Ezra gives a recommendation for Greenpass, a new blog by Zoe VanderWolk, who had interned with the Gadflyer. Some good stuff there, mostly from the convention. I strongly agree with what she says about tending the netroots. Check it out.

Poll time.

In interviews on Thursday, July 29-before the Kerry nomination acceptance speech-Kerry/Edwards received the support of 47 percent of registered voters, Bush/Cheney 45 percent and Nader/Camejo 2 percent, according to the Newsweek Poll. In Friday interviews after the speech, Kerry/Edwards received 50 percent, Bush/Cheney 40 percent and Nader/Camejo 3 percent. In the two-way race, in interviews on July 29, Kerry/Edwards received 49 percent and Bush/Cheney 47 percent. On July 30, Kerry/Edwards got 54 percent and Bush/Cheney 41 percent, the poll shows.

Reflecting the DNC's themes, 27 percent of registered voters say Kerry's war record makes them more likely to vote for him (15% say less likely); five percent say Bush's war record makes them more likely to vote for him (22% say less likely). And overall, 51 percent of registered voters say Bush has done more to divide Americans than unite them (39 percent say he has done more to unite them).

Looking at crossover voters from the 2000 election, 92 percent of Gore voters in 2000 support Kerry (5 percent say they will vote for Bush and 3 percent is undecided); 84 percent of Bush voters say they plan to vote for the president again (four percent of Bush 2000 voters are undecided, 10 percent say they will vote for Kerry and 2 percent for Nader).

Zogby has more good news (via Atrios).

All in all, a good start. Oh, one more thing - the rating for Kerry's speech were up from Gore's.

More than 24.4 million people watched Sen. John Kerry deliver his acceptance speech Thursday night, 2.7 million more than watched Night 4 of the 2000 Democratic National Convention.

Contrary to speculation, the audience for the 2004 convention did not drop precipitously. According to Nielsen Media Research, the 2004 convention averaged 20.4 million viewers during peak viewing hours (9-10 p.m. each night), compared with 20.6 million viewers for the 2000 convention.

The Night 4 cable audience grew by 38 percent in 2004 vs. 2000, 6.7 million viewers vs. 4.2 million.

CNN grabbed the most cable viewers, while NBC eked out a win among broadcasters. Numbers are not available for C-SPAN, which is not advertiser-supported and does not subscribe to the Nielsen rating service.

The dreaded fire ant may have finally met its match.

B lamed for everything from starting fires to ravaging crops, delivering painful multiple bites and decimating wildlife, imported red fire ants — Solenopsis invicta — are the ants from hell. In little more than 70 years, they've become the scourge of the South, infesting more than 260 million acres from Texas to Florida and causing damage in the uncounted millions.

They've been battled with everything from grits and boiling water to the most sophisticated of chemical baits, but they've lived to bite again.

Now, however, the seemingly indestructible pests from South America may have met their match in a microscopic organism that deals a knock-out punch to their colonies, which can teem with as many as 200,000 insects.

"This may prove to be the great leveler," said Forrest Mitchell, an entomologist studying the protozoan Thelohania solenopsae at Texas A&M University's research and extension center in Stephenville.

Mitchell said early research suggests the organism, which naturally infects the ants both in South America and the United States, may prove an effective, economical weapon against infestations on farms and rangeland. While chemical baits are effective against the ants in urban settings, he said, they are far too costly for widespread agricultural use.

The protozoan has been found in red fire ant nests in 126 of 157 infested Texas counties. Their heaviest concentration was in Hamilton and Lampasas counties in the center of the state. Few were found in East Texas, and none in Harris County.

Closely related to a protozoan that infects roughly a fourth of fire ant nests in South America, Thelohania solenopsae was first found in the United States six years ago. U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists discovered the organism in Florida, then later identified it in ant nests in Texas.

[...]

Intrigued by the USDA findings, Mitchell and his colleagues began testing Texas fire ants for the protozoan in 2002. "We finally finished in 2003," he said, "and we've been hammering away at it ever since."

Scientists are uncertain how the protozoan came to the United States, how it spreads or how it infects individual ants within a nest. What is apparent, though, is that once established in an ant colony, it decimates the population.

"From studies I've read, it's apparent that they cause a chronic, debilitating disease," Mitchell said. "The ants are less able to reproduce. ... I don't have scientific proof, but in some colonies that were heavily infected with the protozoan, I had a hard time finding ants." When he dug into the nests, he said, the surviving ants fled rather than attacked.

"If the colonies are infested with the protozoan, I consider them dead," Mitchell said.

The organism naturally spreads from nest to nest, and Mitchell said he and his colleagues are puzzled why it hasn't moved extensively into East Texas.

"Where it hasn't spread naturally, there's a reason," he said. "Maybe it just hasn't had a chance to spread. Maybe the ants are healthier and more resistant. Maybe there are more single-queen colonies (a type of nest less commonly infected than those with multiple queens)."

Mitchell suspects East Texas' heavy rainfall may deter the organism's spread.

From John Kerry's acceptance speech:

"I want to address these next words directly to President Bush: In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division."

Bush rips Kerry in Midwest tour

It's usually the frontrunner who promises to run a positive campaign and calls upon his or her opponent to do the same, isn't it? I guess we now know how both sides view themselves.

If the networks are really concerned about dwindling ratings for the national conventions (something which, frankly, they themselves must take some blame for, as they do a better job of anti-marketing them than Beelzebud Selig did with MLB before the last labor agreement), then perhaps they ought to consider getting TBogg to script them. It's probably too tame for FOX, though.

Who could find fault in the new state policy that bans fast food from Texas schools? Would you believe PTOs?

When school opens across the state next month, Chick-fil-A, Pizza Hut and other popular fast food vendors will no longer be in the cafeterias.

Besides limiting fat content and portion sizes, the state's new nutritional guidelines hope to make it harder for students to buy fast food by keeping it out of reach during meal times.

That change is prompting protests by not only the food vendors but some Parent-Teacher Organizations that relied on fast food sales as major fund-raisers.

"It's a real unfortunate incident. We're a big community supporter and for many years have worked with PTOs, coaching staff and principals to raise money for their schools," said Chick-fil-A area marketing director Tina Boaz.

Lamar and Bellaire high schools and Johnston and Pershing middle schools are just some of the dozens of schools across the Houston area that stand to lose extra income, parents said.

In the past, the PTOs bought the sandwiches at a discount from Chick-fil-A and others. Then they sold them to students at regular cost, using the proceeds to fund school projects.

Last year, Pershing Middle School's PTO made $20,000 in food sales from Chick-fil-A, Pizza Hut and Quiznos, according to PTO President Cathie Bach.

"We used those funds for new band instruments, some athletic uniforms and a whole new computer lab," Bach said.

Welcome to Club Fed, Ken Rice!

Ken Rice, the former head of Enron’s broadband Internet business, became the 11th person to plead guilty to an Enron-related crime when he admitted to a single count of securities fraud this morning before a federal judge.

A plea agreement with federal prosecutors requires him to cooperate with the government in ongoing investigations and trials and forfeit $13.7 million in cash and property. Rice faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine, as well as three years of supervision.

The plea centered on a Jan. 20, 2000 meeting with analysts where Rice and others at the company touted the current and future abilities of Enron’s broadband network. That same meeting was mentioned in an indictment against former Chief Executive Officer Jeff Skilling.

Rice, 45, faced charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and insider trading. He entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore shortly after 11 a.m.

Attorneys close to the case have been expecting Rice to reach a deal with prosecutors for many weeks. As a division head he would have reported directly to Sklling, and would likely have had regular contact with former Chairman Ken Lay as well. Both men had pled not guilty to a variety of charges.

Rice said in court today that during the Jan. 20, 2000 meeting with analysts he made several misstatements and withheld information about the true nature of Enron Broadband Services. In particular, he said he made false statements about the broadband operating system, or "BOS", the software that ran the network.

[...]

The Jan. 20, 2000 meeting is widely seen as the catalyst for a huge increase in Enron's stock price in the following year. Enron's stock price climbed 25 percent that day and began its gallop up to a record high of $90.56 that August.

EBS was only able to meet its earning targets in 2000 by selling some of its assets to a partnership controlled by former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow, Rice said. In most cases those sales were fraudulent because the partnership was not really at risk when it bought the assets. The Skilling indictment also mentions the false sales to Fastow’s LJM partnership.

Other possible ties between Rice’s plea and Skilling or Lay may have come through Enron’s budgeting process. Company divisions make projections of their expected operational performance in a given year, projections that Skilling and Lay would likely have reviewed and maybe approved. Rice says in his plea agreement that: "Internal projects indicated that the company stood to take substantial losses in 2001, well beyond publicly announced targets."

The State Democratic Party is attempting to raise $15K over the next two weeks in order to get a copy of the DNC's "Demzilla" file for State House candidates.

Democrats who say their No. 1 goal is to take back the state House are launching a "$15k in 14 Days" campaign to help pay for a new Web-based information system to target voters.

A Republican consultant said there's no way the Democrats can reverse the GOP's 88-62 House advantage this year.

"The odds are zero. As far as I can tell, at the absolute best, they could pick up maybe two seats," said Royal Masset, consultant to several GOP House candidates.

But Democratic Party Chairman Charles Soechting held out hope of a takeover in a Wednesday e-mail solicitation to Democrats, writing, "With just a few more resources, we will be the majority party again!"

[...]

The party wants to raise $15,000 to help pay for "the Cadillac of information files" it has purchased to turn out voters, Democratic Party spokesman Mike Lavigne said.

He said the files, with detailed information such as voting history, likelihood of voting, gender and age, will be Web-based and thus available to Democratic organizers at every level.

"It's accessible, and we're going to be providing it at no cost," Lavigne said.

Among races "we're looking at real hard" as potential winners, Lavigne said, is the Democratic challenge by David Leibowitz against Rep. Ken Mercer, R-San Antonio. The seat is one of two also identified by Masset as vulnerable.

Mercer said his race, in a district divided between Democrats and Republicans, has been dubbed "the hottest race in Texas."

Now then. I've said before that I don't think the Dems can take control of the State House this year. They need a net 14 seat pickup, and I just don't see them getting there from here. Too many uncompetitive seats, too many of their own incumbents who will be in tough reelection battles. On the other hand, I think Royal Masset is royally lowballing them. I see their ceiling as being in the 6-8 seat range. I'll actually be a little disappointed if a two seat gain is all we get.

The Austin Chronicle, continuing its excellent election coverage, gives a few reasons why the Dems have a shot at some real gains.

If Austin state Reps. Jack Stick and Todd Baxter ever suspected they'd be vulnerable targets by the end of their freshman terms, they sure didn't act like it. But two Democratic challengers to their House seats have by now shaken any sense of security the GOP incumbents may have had – dollar for dollar.

In two of the most closely watched races in the state, Democratic challengers Mark Strama and Kelly White are proving themselves formidable fundraisers on the trail, bringing in more campaign cash than any other first-time Democratic House candidates in the state. Meanwhile, Stick's office says, the District 50 incumbent chose on principle not to accept campaign contributions during the special session this spring, even with an election just months away. What was he thinking? He was thinking, says one state Democratic pundit, that he'd have time to catch some R&R over the summer before coasting to re-election on Nov. 2.

His opponent Strama, an entrepreneurial techie with a political bent, would soon change Stick's point of view with the release of his July 15 campaign finance report, which arrived thick with contributions totaling $225,826 raised since January. More than $38,000 of that amount came from online donors. Stick – whose own report took nearly a week to show up on the Ethics Commission Web site – collected $121,450 during the same period.

[...]

The Democratic resurgence played well in Travis Co., where in the March primary Dems outnumbered Republicans at the polls by more than 2-1. "White and Strama are in the very top tier of the Democrats' hopes for gaining back the state House," said Mark Nathan, whose political consulting firm (with Christian Archer) provided some initial consulting work for White's campaign. "There are a lot of hopes and dreams pinned on these two faces."

Other House races of note include San Antonio's District 117, where freshman state Rep. Ken Mercer, a Republican in an otherwise Democratic district (his 2002 Dem opponent was entangled in San Antonio's recent City Hall scandals) is trying to fend off Democratic challenger David Leibowitz. Houston GOP Rep. Talmadge Heflin, a powerful member of the new regime, is facing off against Democrat Hubert Vo in District 149. And in the southeast corner of the state, freshman GOP Rep. Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton faces a tough race in District 19 against Democrat Rex Peveto. Meanwhile, three potentially vulnerable Democratic incumbents – Houston's Scott Hochberg (District 137), Wichita Falls' David Farabee (District 69), and Livingston's Dan Ellis (District 18) – are facing serious GOP challengers.

Here at home, White is giving Baxter a run for his money, taking in more than twice as much as Baxter in the first half of the year. White, who like Strama is a first-time candidate, is drawing on her dollar sensibilities as the former executive of SafePlace (since renamed Kelly White Family Shelter), a nonprofit that she is credited with growing substantially during her tenure. What White's campaign may lack in political experience it makes up for in financial success. The candidate's July report shows big donations from the likes of businesswoman Bettye Nowlin, who kicked in $10,000; Luci Baines Johnson, in for more than $5,700; and the Annie's List PAC, $15,000 with another $3,500 pledged.

There's a reason why Charles Soechting and the Texas delegates have been insisting that Texas is not a solid red state for President Bush, and that reason is that they want every Democrat in the state to feel like it's really important for them to turn out in November. The Murray Memo talks about the benefit to Congressional candidates if the Kerry/Edwards team pays some attention to Texas, but I believe and I think Charles Soechting would agree, that State Rep candidates would do at least as well.

So anyway. $15K in 14 days. You want to make a difference and you have a little spare change lying around, there you go.

For all the talk of who is or might be running for this or that in 2006, here's one person who'll be sitting it out: Henry Cisneros.

"I have no plans to run for office in 2006," said Cisneros, 57.

Cisneros told reporters that his business life and raising his 17-year-old son would be disrupted by a run for office or service in a presidential Cabinet if John Kerry wins the White House from President Bush.

Cisneros was secretary of housing and urban development under President Clinton.

He said he wants to find a role in public service without the disruptions of running for or serving in office.

Cisneros said he wants to focus on his business for "the next couple of decades." His company finances construction of homes for low-income families.

[...]

Cisneros said he has urged former Texas Comptroller John Sharp to run for governor in 2006.

Cisneros was not the only focus of statewide politics at the Democratic National Convention.

A pair of lame-duck congressmen, Chris Bell of Houston and Jim Turner of Crockett, were floating themselves as possible gubernatorial candidates. Turner said he also might be interested in running for Senate.

Houston lawyer Barbara Ann Radnofsky also spoke to the delegates about her desire to run for Senate. And convention Chairman Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico promoted former U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen of Houston as a possible 2006 candidate for Senate. Bentsen lost a 2002 Democratic primary bid for Senate.

Who is Barbara Radnofsky, you ask? Possibly the next Democratic candidate for the Senate, that's who.

Radnofsky has never run for office and says that her only political involvement up until recently has been holding fundraisers for friends running in county and statewide judicial elections. Though she lacks political experience, Radnofsky comes to the scene with a potentially powerful network that she hopes to expand significantly this week. For 25 years, she has worked as a litigator at Vinson & Elkins, a law firm of national prestige whose Washington, D.C., lobbying shop is one of the most respected in the business.

Radnofsky acknowledged the conservative leanings of Vinson & Elkins, but added, “The firm has its share of Democrats too. The firm has been very supportive with some of the projects I’ve been involved with,” citing the numerous pro bono and charitable endeavors she has pursued.

To hear Radnofsky explain it, the Texas Senate seat is hers for the taking. Many have speculated that Hutchison has her eyes set on the governorship and no candidates have officially emerged from either party to seek the seat. Radnofsky says that outgoing Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas) (who lost his seat in a newly redistricted constituency) has told her that he is considering a gubernatorial, not a senatorial, run and she adds that no other sitting Democratic lawmaker has showed publicly expressed interest in running for the seat.

One way in which Radnofsky is working her way into the state and national party’s graces is by raising money for candidates. Since deciding to form her exploratory committee, Radnofsky says that she has raised about $30,000 for Sen. John Kerry and $25,000 for Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas), who faces a tough reelection battle due to redistricting.

Radnofsky says she has raised about $90,000 for her exploratory activity and spent half of it. Potential candidates in the exploratory phase are not required to report their fundraising figures.

Via Greg.

So I didn't actually watch Kerry's speech last night. I'm not a big speech-watching person, and hey, it's not like he has to convince me that he'd make a fine President. With one notable exception, the lefty bloggers seem to approve of it, and quite a few of them are downright pumped. Sounds good to me.

In reviewing Kerry's speech, the Chron was typically backhanded and mealy-mouthed, which in context means they couldn't find anything obvious to gripe about. I'll take that.

UPDATE: Had a chance to look around a bit. The Morning News called it a "strong speech" that "serve Mr. Kerry well in his quest for the White House". The Statesman also used the word "strong", as in "strong on security". The Express-News made the astonishing observation that there's some kind of battle going on for moderate and undecided voters. Whoo-ee, slow down there, Tex! I think they seemed to imply that Kerry may have had some success in doing that, but my head is still spinning so I can't say for sure.

I do believe that Byron has found the dumbest convention story yet.

MIA at the DNC

The Democrats best known to the most Texans aren't at the Boston Hilton this week. They aren't delegates, so they're on vacation or back at work. They include:

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Austin

Rep. Chet Edwards, Waco

Rep. Martin Frost, Arlington

Rep. Solomon Ortiz, Corpus Christi

Rep. Max Sandlin, Marshall

Former comptroller and lieutenant governor nominee John Sharp

Governor nominee Tony Sanchez

Former attorney general Jim Mattox

Former land commissioner Garry Mauro

Former agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower (although he came for a day to promote his book.)

Former House Speaker Pete Laney

Former U.S. Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (who is in frail health)

Former state senator and Texas Supreme Court Justice Oscar Mauzy

Former Senate nominee Victor Morales

OBITUARY:

Justice Oscar Holcombe Mauzy, champion of the people and friend of the underdog, died peacefully after a brave battle against lung cancer on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2000.

Sheesh.

This Chron story on the bloggers at the Democratic Convention may come a bit late in the game (not exactly atypical for our hometown paper, of course), but it has the virtue of being non-condescending. It even contains a decent insight:

By reducing live coverage of the conventions, the major television networks have "given the bloggers a jump-start they never would have gotten otherwise," said Thomas McPhail, professor of media studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

"The bloggers have taken advantage of that. (Television network) management does not understand that you don't want to give such a golden opportunity to attract readers to the Internet."

Also to the good, there's a sidebar with all of the credentialed bloggers listed. It's too bad there isn't an easily-accessible list of delegates who are also bloggers, though that doesn't explain why a URL wasn't given for Cate Read even though the story specifically mentioned her. It's a good piece anyway, so check it out.

Reps. Martin Frost and Pete Sessions will debate each other five times between Labor Day and Election Day. Those who can't tell the difference between them by November have no one to blame for it but themselves. (via)

Max Sandlin gets endorsed by the NRA, gives a pretty good explanation for why he stayed in Texas instead of going to Boston, and has a nifty little animated ad for an upcoming fundraiser.

Lorenzo Sadun is getting some good press lately, in the Statesman and in the AusChron.

That AusChron article needs some quoting, as it covers three of the low-profile races in greater depth than every other newspaper in the state combined. We'll start with Sadun, whom the author accompanied on a trip to Hempstead where he attended and campaigned at the town's Watermelon Festival:

Sadun acknowledges being a bit out of his element, but says, "I'm learning to make this my element. If you're going to represent people, you gotta understand who they are, and you don't understand who they are sitting at UT. You find out who they are by going out to where they live, doing the things they do, and appreciating what they do. Whatever the results of this election, I'm going to come away from this with a much better understanding of where we live, and who we live with, than I had before."

Porter lays out his philosophy to the small gathering: "The reasons that we're doing this ... going forward for a common ideal, for our common values, and our common values are that, in fact, America does work when Americans work; are that health care, access to good insurance, should be a right and not a luxury. We're doing this because the national deficit is so out of control; the Democratic Party, despite being labeled as tax-and-spend liberals, are now the party of fiscal restraint, and we can prove it – back when we were in control, the deficit was lower, the debt was being paid off.

"Now, under George W. Bush and John Carter, the deficits have gone up. Each and every one of you owe more than $24,000 apiece to the national debt. My 21-month-old son owes $24,000 to the national debt. We are enslaving our children's future. For what? Tax cuts for the wealthy. An unjust war built on a stack of cards and lies, where we're losing lives every day, because the president and his people did not listen to their generals."

Finally, there's Rhett Smith, running against the not-related Lamar Smith and campaigning in Comal County.

Challenger Smith is soberly realistic about his candidacy, but looks for silver linings: "I think I have a better chance than John Courage did, and he was a heck of a candidate," he says, speaking of the Dem who in 2002 garnered 25% of the vote against Lamar Smith in the old CD 21, which encompassed more of the Hill Country and less of Austin.

"I think there's going to be a negative Bush/Cheney vote, and a negative Tom DeLay and Lamar vote. You know, Lamar is pretty shy about getting in the media, and perhaps that serves him well." (Lamar Smith was asked for an interview about Rhett Smith, but a campaign spokesman would only comment, "He doesn't know him, he hasn't seen him, and he won't vote for him.")

Smith knows that to win, it will take more than Comal, where only one elected official is a Democrat. In fact, he's banking on Austin. CD 21 has long covered western Travis County, but re-redistricting pulled it into the heart of the city, right across 38th Street from Central Market. "The new map [of this district] kind of favors the Democrats," Smith says. "I think they were so greedy, DeLay and his crowd, of trying to dilute Lloyd Doggett and some of the other Democrats. But when you do that, you've got to shift people somewhere, so obviously you're going to dilute Republican voting strength. They were just taking a gamble that they could have it all. ...We've got to have a huge turnout in Austin/Travis County."

Economic conditions took turn for worse, Fed says

The Federal Reserve found that economic conditions around the country worsened in June and early July, while the Commerce Department said orders for big-ticket manufactured goods managed only a 0.7 percent rise last month, the latest signals that the economy was slowing.

The Fed's survey, compiled from its 12 regional bank districts, showed that retail sales, especially for autos, weakened over the last two months.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods eked out a lower-than-expected gain in June, reflecting a surge in orders for military aircraft, following declines in April and May.

Oil prices eased today, a day after hitting a 21-year high in U.S. trading because of a threat by Russian authorities to shut down most of the production from that country's largest oil company.

[...]

September contracts of U.S. light crude spiked 3 percent higher on Wednesday to $43.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- the highest level since the exchange began offering the light, sweet crude contract in 1983. Prices eased slightly later in the day to settle at $42.90 a barrel.

In electronic trading today before the New York exchange opened, the September oil contracts were down 45 cents at $42.45 a barrel.

The market had reacted to developments in the battle between the Russian government and Yukos, the country's largest oil company.

Yukos, battered by a gigantic overdue back taxes bill, said it might have to halt its main production units within a few days because of a bailiffs' order.

The company says it does not have the cash to pay its tax debt, and court orders have frozen assets that it could tap to raise money. Yukos officials repeatedly have warned that the company, which produces 2 percent of the world's oil, is being driven toward bankruptcy.

Crude supplies are already extremely tight, with Iraq's output hampered by saboteurs and most producers already pumping as much as they can. Saudi Arabia, the only producer that still has significant spare capacity, has recently boosted its production by about 1 million barrels, but much of this fresh oil has yet to reach customers and replenish their depleted inventories.

In the week ending July 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 345,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 341,000. The 4-week moving average was 336,250, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average of 337,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending July 17, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.2 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending July 17 was 2,960,000, an increase of 174,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 2,786,000. The 4-week moving average was 2,889,750, an increase of 750 from the preceding week's revised average of 2,889,000.

The White House will project soon that this year's federal deficit will exceed $420 billion, congressional aides said, a record figure certain to ignite partisan warfare over President Bush's handling of the economy.

The annual summertime analysis is expected out this Friday, said several congressional aides speaking on condition of anonymity Tuesday. That would be well after the frequently ignored legal deadline of July 15.

[...]

Last year's deficit was $375 billion, the worst ever in dollar terms. The White House has said the numbers are manageable because they only equal about 4 percent the size of the U.S. economy — well below the 6 percent ratio reached under President Reagan.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected in January that this year's shortfall would be $477 billion. In May, citing higher than expected revenue collections, it said it believed the red ink would be smaller but offered no figure.

Two weeks ago, the Treasury Department said the deficit for the first nine months of this budget year was $327 billion. That was more than 20 percent larger than the $270 billion shortfall for the same period last year.

Josh Marshall perfectly captures the difference between the Democratic mood and tone in 2003 and now. Check it out.

UPDATE: Atrios agrees, and adds a few thoughts.

Tonight on the 6 PM news, KHOU-11 did a story about how the Texas delegation is getting disrespected at the Democratic convention. I didn't pay much attention to it - Tiffany likes watching the local news, but it usually gives me hives - but figured that it was probably just some repackaged conventional wisdom (no pun intended). Maybe if they'd interviewed CateyBeth instead, I'd have paid attention to the story.

Oh, and on a side note, burgeoning media mogul Karl-T was also featured later in the broadcast.

Do I really need to tell you that when a character on The Simpsons is going to be coming out of the closet, your first stop for exhaustive speculation as to who that character might be should be A Perfectly Cromulent Blog? I didn't think so.

Hard not to get at least a little excited at these poll numbers.

Beattie Hamilton & Staff for the DCCC. Poll details unknown.

DeLay (R) 49
Morrison (D) 39
Fjetland (I) 7

DeLay is running 11 points behind Bush/Cheney (which means Bush is garnering 60 percent in the district). DeLay also runs poorly in Galveston County, which has just been added to the district. The theory is that the county, which was cut in half by DeLay's redistricting, is unhappy with the maneouver -- a theme echoed by every Texas Democrat I have talked to the last week.

Morrison's name ID is apparently non-existant, so there's room to grow.

I basically agree with Greg that most of Fjetland's support comes straight from DeLay - Fjetland did get 20% or so of the vote each time he ran in the Republican primary against DeLay. It'd be nice to turn some of those supporters, or to convince Fjetland that dropping out and endorsing Morrison is in his best interests, but I'm not going to sweat it too much.

I do believe that this year is the best chance to get rid of DeLay. Everything is going as well as it could be - Democrats are fired up, Galveston County voters have a beef with DeLay for his role in splitting them from the rest of the county, Morrison is as good a candidate as one could hope for, and of course there are all of DeLay's ethical problems. Maybe if he wins and later resigns the seat could be turned, but I'd have to give the nod to a less-encumbered-by-baggage Republican in that scenario. The time is now, that's pretty much all there is to it.

I got email from a friend today asking which Democratic Congressional candidates he ought to donate to. I ranked them in different ways for him, and listed Morrison first even as I characterized him as a huge underdog. Well, maybe I was wrong about calling him that. Consider this to be my penance for that.

UPDATE: MyDD notes that Common Cause and CREW have joined the outside-counsel chorus. It should be noted that Melanie Sloan of CREW drafted the complaint for Chris Bell. There's also a link to this AP wire story which notes that the Republican half of the jury pool from wihch the Ethics Committee could draw consists entirely of DeLay PAC money recipients.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political action committee gave $81,077 in the last decade to 10 Republicans who could be asked to investigate allegations that the Texas lawmaker misused his office.

[...]

Should the committee choose to investigate, it could appoint four of its members, two from each party, to conduct the inquiry.

Or the committee could assign the investigation to two of its members – one from each party – and one Republican and one Democrat from a larger pool. The pool, appointed by party leaders, consists of 10 members from each party.

All 10 Republicans appointed by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., received money from Mr. DeLay's PAC, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a nonpartisan organization that tracks contributions. The donations ranged from the $545 to Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas to $20,000 to Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk.

Mr. DeLay has said the contributions do not create a conflict because, he noted, Democrats on the committee also have accepted donations from party leaders' fund-raising groups.

Mr. DeLay also said congressional watchdog groups that criticized his fund raising activities are tools of the Democratic Party.

Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's two PACs have given $55,000 to three Democrats in the pool since 2000, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.

Apparently, I had a repeat of the webhost problem which gave "permission denied" errors when commenting, and which also prevented me from posting before now. I saved a few things in draft and have now published them. Dreamhost has assured me that they fixed the underlying cause, so I trust this will be the last of this particular problem. Thanks!

I'm sure you've seen the story of Florida's latest voting woes by now.

A computer crash erased detailed records from Miami-Dade County's first widespread use of touchscreen voting machines, raising again the specter of elections troubles in Florida, where the new technology was supposed to put an end to such problems.

The crashes occurred in May and November of 2003, erasing information from the September 2002 gubernatorial primaries and other elections, elections officials said Tuesday.

The malfunction was made public after the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, a citizen's group, requested all data from the 2002 gubernatorial primary between Democratic candidates Janet Reno and Bill McBride.

In December, officials began backing up the data daily, to help avoid similar data wipeouts in the future, said Seth Kaplan, spokesman for the county's elections supervisor, Constance Kaplan.

The loss of data underscores problems with the touchscreen voting machines, the citizen's group said. "This is a disaster waiting to happen," said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, chairwoman of the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition. "Of course it's worrisome."

The group is concerned about the machines' effectiveness, following revelations about other problems with the system. Last month, state officials said the touchscreen systems used by 11 counties had a bug that would make a manual recount impossible. Earlier this month, a newspaper study indicated touchscreen machines did not perform as well as those that scanned paper ballots.

Greg has been on a bit of a tear lately about the perceptions of security of electronic voting machines and allegations that they lack in various areas, and while I think he makes some good points, the point that I keep coming back to is that we've all basically been told to trust Diebold, Hart Intercivic, and all the other voting machine makers. What alarms me about this Florida article isn't my tinfoil-hat "oh my god they're going to steal the election!" instincts, it's the thought that it took a catastrophic failure - and its discovery by a citizens' group - for anyone to suggest that regular backups of this data might be a good idea. How can you put any faith in that kind of process? Has anyone asked Beverly Kaufman what kind of backup procedures Harris County has? At least with paper ballots, you can point to a locked storage room somewhere.

We don't really know how robust and stable these machines are, and the reason we don't know is because the manufacturers won't tell us. That would mean parting with their trade secrets. Given a choice between their intellectual property and the integrity of my voting system, I'll choose the latter every day. I'm not an open-source evangelist, but I can't see why that isn't the right model to emulate here.

I certainly have no desire to go back to punch cards. I actually like the eSlate interface, and I feel confident that with such an interface all kinds of problems such as overvotes and undervotes can be eliminated. All I'm really asking for here is transparency. Can we all agree on that?

Awhile back, I bashed the GOP for including pop-up ads as part of its Internet outreach strategy. I stand by my assertion that pop-ups are a stupid way to reach consumers, especially considering their looming obsolescence thanks to pop-up-blocking technology, but as Rob has pointed out, the madness now appears to be a bipartisan one. If you'll excuse me, there's a wall around here that needs a little head-banging. And if one of you convention-attending bloggers could figure out who in the Kerry camp was responsible for this and give him or her a dope-slap for me, I'd be much obliged.

You'd think that with all of the scandals and investigations surrounding him that Tom DeLay wouldn't have a whole lot of free time for frivolity, but apparently you'd be wrong.

A super-sized Statue of Liberty, holding aloft an order of french fries, is adorning food tray liners in Subway restaurants across Germany. And House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, is angry enough about it to lose his lunch.

"This is every bad stereotype about corporate America come true," DeLay said in a news release.

The ad in German, whose headline translates as "Why are Americans so fat?" is a promotional tie-in to the movie Super Size Me, director Morgan Spurlock's take on life in the fast-food lane.

In his award-winning documentary, the American filmmaker eats nothing but McDonald's Quarter Pounders, Egg McMuffins and the like for 30 days, gaining 25 pounds and reportedly risking his health.

Milford, Conn.-based Subway has long marketed its restaurants as a healthier alternative to fast food.

Jared Fogle, the Subway spokesman who once tipped the scales at 435 pounds, only to lose 245 pounds on a diet of Subway sandwiches, makesa brief appearance in the movie.

Subway officials point out that the prime images on the tray liners — the goateed, fry-stuffing madman and the Rubenesque Lady Liberty — were both borrowed directly from the movie promotions running in Germany.

No similar Subway ads ran in the United States.

And Subway officials dispute the notion the tray liners are somehow un-American.

"It's an American movie, made by an American, made about an American issue, shown to Americans," Subway spokesman Kevin Kane said.

"I guess for some companies, corporate patriotism is as flexible as Jared's waistline," DeLay said.

DeLay objected to the ad's parody of the Statue of Liberty, "one of the most recognizable American symbols."

I can't believe Tom DeLay has never seen a parody of the Statue of Liberty before. Did he grow up without ever once seeing a Warner Brothers cartoon in which a low-flying plane or other fast-moving object caused the statue's skirts to billow up? Has he never once looked at a MAD Magazine? The Statue of Liberty, like Uncle Sam and Santa Claus, gets parodied precisely because it's so recognizable a symbol. What's the point of parodying something no one's ever heard of?

Here's a bunch of parodied images from art and pop culture - I've linked directly to a few favorites below. I'm sure there are plenty more out there, but I don't have the time to do a really thorough search. If you're in the mood for some research, please do feel free to leave any results in the comments.

UPDATE: Jack takes his shots at DeLay as well.

The Real Thing

Latte

Beer

Casino

Postcards

If I were there, I'd probably spend my time finding people to talk to, and blogging about that. That's just me, of course - your mileage may vary and all that. That said, Byron's conversation with Kucinich delegates is the sort of thing I'm looking for from the conventionbloggers. Not because I have any great interest in Dennis Kucinich and his supporters, but because I do have a great interest in the people who won't get much regular press coverage. Talking to those who will get coverage is also fine, as long as you're not asking the same questions everyone else does.

Just my two cents. What are you looking for from conventionblogging?

The elephant in the room during the whole school finance reform mess has been a lawsuit by a bunch of school districts, HISD included, which charges the state with not meeting its funding obligations. Today a motion by the state to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds that it's a political question was denied.

Judge John Dietz of Travis County denied the state's motion to throw out a lawsuit brought by more than 260 school districts that claim the Texas Legislature is not adequately funding education.

Assistant Attorney General Jeff Rose said his office will not pursue an immediate appeal but might challenge Dietz's ruling after the trial is completed.

Opening statements in the West Orange-Cove lawsuit are scheduled for Aug. 9. The trial before Dietz is expected to last about six weeks.

Assistant Attorney General Amy Warr argued that school funding is a political question entrusted to the Legislature under the Texas Constitution.

She also said that local school districts are in partnership with the state in providing an adequate education. "The court can't put itself in the middle of a debate between the Legislature and the districts," Warr said.

David Thompson, a lawyer for a group of districts that includes Houston ISD, said the court isn't being asked to make the policy determination of how much education the state should provide. Instead, he said, the issue is whether the Legislature is fully funding the education curriculum it has adopted.

Dietz noted that the Texas Supreme Court "made short shrift" of the state's jurisdictional argument when it ruled last year that the West Orange-Cove case should proceed to trial.

All things considered, it's not so bad to be Chris Bell right about now.

Since filing an ethics complaint against the House Republican leader from Sugar Land last month, Bell has become a darling of the Democrats.

Texan delegates to the Boston convention clamored Monday to have their picture taken with him. They asked for his autograph and encouraged him to run for statewide office.

"He has a lot of courage," said Carmen Nuncio of Houston. "I am very proud of him."

Later, Bell appeared at a posh reception for former Democratic House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt at Boston's Wang Theatre, where several colleagues praised the Houston lawmaker for going after DeLay.

"To take on one of the most powerful, toughest members of the House takes a lot of guts," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

Bell said the support from Democrats and some Republicans has been surprising in the wake of his allegations that DeLay violated House rules by engaging in abuse of power and improper fund-raising.

"It's funny how things work out sometimes," Bell said. "Obviously it was the Republicans' full intention to kill me. But in a sense, they've breathed even more life into me. Who would have thought that?"

[Bell] plans to take a hard look at running for statewide office in 2006 and doesn't believe his tiff with DeLay will hurt him.

"People are sick of watching Democrats just laying down and taking it. They want to see people standing up and fighting for what they believe is right," said Bell.

UPDATE: Kos appears to have had a chat with Chris Bell. Check it out.

UPDATE: And more on Chris Bell.

Rep. Chris Bell of Houston, who lost his bid for re-election earlier this year in a district redrawn by the Republican-led Legislature, said Tuesday he is considering a range of options, including a possible run for governor in 2006.

[...]

Bell, addressing Texas delegates to the Democratic National Convention over breakfast, said his future plans dependin part on whether Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison takes on Gov. Rick Perry in the 2006 Republican primary – a decision Hutchison is expected to make next year.

"If she runs for governor, the dominos start falling," Bell said, a reference to political chatter suggesting GOP Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst could seek Hutchison's seat and Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn could run to succeed Dewhurst.

Bell lost in the March Democratic primary to Al Green.

"If there's an upside to losing in March, it does give you a lot of time to weigh your options," Bell said.

Dave McNeely notes that the Democrats in the State House are aiming to elect a different speaker in 2005.

The Democrats, with large eyes, think they they might be able to beat six or seven incumbent Republicans, including two in Austin and Travis County. Democrats also know they have almost as many other seats vulnerable to Republican takeover.

[...]

Two scenarios on that replacement strategy:

•One is to build the Democratic minority up enough that a handful of Republicans who aren't Craddick fans can join a coalition to elect a Democrat as speaker.

•The other possibility would be to have the Republican House members once considered ABC's — Anybody But Craddick — decide among themselves which of their number is to be elected speaker with the Democrats' help.

Tommy Adkisson of San Antonio, a Bexar County commissioner who once served in the Texas House, said that he and other Democrats are capitalizing on the national Democratic ticket to help raise money toward targeting key House races. He said that $65,000 was raised toward that end Sunday during an Edwards fund-raising visit to San Antonio.

Soechting hopes Democrats will have as many as five other fund-raisers in coming weeks — in Austin, Houston, Dallas, the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso.

Soechting says there are few statewide races in Texas because major offices, such as governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, are chosen in nonpresidential election years.

So it makes sense to try to take advantage of the energy at the top of the ballot, even in Texas, to help races further down, Soechting said.

That the Edwards fundraiser, which netted $600K for the Kerry/Edwards ticket, also raised $65K for state House candidates is a very good thing. I can't help but think there won't be so much corporate cash flowing to Republicans this time around, so the playing field ought to be a bit more level. (You know where to go if you want to find some worthy candidates to help out, right? Good.) It'd be very nice if Kerry and/or Edwards made an appearance or two in Texas that wasn't simply about fundraising, but if that's too much to ask for, I'll say once again that the other original Democratic hopefuls would make fine surrogates. (Howard Dean will be at the HCDP's Johnson-Rayburn event on August 21, for those who might be interested.)

I guess what feels different about 2004 is that for the first time since probably 1996, Democrats everywhere in Texas know there's a damn good reason for them to get to the polls. That won't be enough to win a statewide election on its own any time soon, but we're not aiming for that; not this year, anyway. The goal is to raise the tide enough to swamp as many smaller races as possible. Bush beat Gore by 59-38 in 2000. Get that margin to 55-42 or closer this year and I believe that goal will be in reach.

Regarding last night's speeches, I think Byron nails this:

The only way that Hillary will win the Democratic nomination in 2008 will be if Democrats across the country are fully convinced that she did everything in her power to get Kerry / Edwards elected in 2004.

Two headlines from yesterday's Chron:

Google stock will start at $108-$135 a share

Web worm slows search sites

Not that it really mattered, but the second headline appeared later in the day than the first one. Probably just as well nonetheless.

By now you've probably heard the news that Atrios is psuedonymous no more. His name is Duncan Black - it now says "Eschaton -- a weblog by d u n c a n b l a c k" at the bottom of his page - and TalkLeft has a non-redacted picture of him. I think we can safely say that this proves my hypothesis that he was all along a non-insider, someone whom Andrew Sullivan would have passed by on the street without recognizing. Not any more, obviously.

I want to take a moment to give a brief shout-out to Ann Salisbury, whom I met along with Brian Linse and then-still-on-Blogspot Kevin Drum back in 2002 when I was in Anaheim on a business trip. Ann said at the time that she believed Atrios had an academic background, because she traced an IP address from an email he sent her to UC Irvine. Well, looks like she was right about that. Take a bow, Ann!

Via Kevin. There's some more stuff about Atrios/Duncan Black in the comments as well.

UPDATE: That would be "UC Irvine", not "Cal State Irvine". My bad. Thanks to Ulrika in the comments for the catch.

I know everyone's eyes are focused on Boston right now, but back here in Austin we've got another fine Texas Tuesdays candidate for your approval in Kelly White, former executive director of SafePlace. Though this is her first run at public office, she's got an extensive resume in public service, and she's running against yet another TAB/TRM-enhanced incumbent. Meet Kelly White, check out the Q&A with Kelly White, and of course if you like what you see, please make a donation to Kelly White.

We picked the name Olivia partly because we liked how it sounded, partly because we didn't know any other Olivias, and partly because it wasn't an excessively popular name. It turns out we were wrong about that last reason - "Olivia" was #10 on the list of popular baby names for girls in 2002, and has climbed steadily in popularity since 1990. It's even more popular now. When we read the SSA press release which announced that "Olivia" was the #5 most popular girl's name for 2003, we cringed but consoled ourselves that at least we didn't know any other Olivias.

Tonight we attended an orientation for the day care center where Olivia will stay when Tiffany goes back to work in September. All the other parents there had infants, and two of them had Olivias. That was the only repeat name among the incoming children. sigh

Oh, well. At least we still like the way it sounds.

UPDATE: Alex adds some thoughts, including some cool etymology (I had no idea what "Madison" and "MacKenzie" actually mean).

I'm not even a car person, but I'm sorry I missed the Lowrider Evolution Tour yesterday.

"It's just what I love; I love old cars," said a beaming O'Brien Longoria, of Conroe, as he explained why he spent three years turning his 1963 Chevrolet Impala into a sleek machine worthy of the name low-rider.

Unlike most of the low-riders at the show, Longoria's vehicle didn't scream with loud colors or captivate the eye with complex artwork. Instead, its classic coat of powder puff blue and its white interior elicited a sense of elegance through simplicity.

Organizers estimated that 10,000 people paid the $30 admission fee to view the show, called "Lowrider Evolution Tour 2004." The show is traveling to 15 cities this year, and most of the participants display their cars in their local areas.

It's not as prestigious as the Koufax Awards, but I imagine this will get some publicity: the Washington Post is holding a Best Blogs contest, and they're taking nominations in ten categories between now and September 3 (voting begins September 27). I didn't really like some of their categories, as there seemed to be an awful lot of overlap among them (Best Democratic/Republican Party Coverage, Best Campaign Dirt, Best Inside the Beltway), but I made my nominations anyway. You have to register, but if you've already registered at the WaPo site, it'll accept that (I'm guessing BugMeNot addresses will be rejected once used more than once). Get your nominations in now so you can't complain later that there's no one you want to vote for.

Say what you want about Texas, our perennial candidates are a non-stop laff riot.

A federal judge has fined John WorldPeace, a local lawyer and perennial candidate for high office, $25,000 for using the names of two Houston-area car dealerships as Internet addresses for Web pages that recruit clients for lawsuits against the dealerships.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal also ordered last week that WorldPeace stop using Internet domain names similar to the trademarks of Bill Heard Chevrolet of Sugar Land and Landmark Chevrolet of Houston, both owned by Bill Heard Enterprises Inc.

WorldPeace, who legally changed his name from Kenneth Wolter, could not be reached for comment.

He obtained the addresses billheardchevrolet.org, billheardchevrolet.us, landmarkchevrolet.org and landmarkchevrolet.us and offered to sell them to the dealerships for $50,000 each.

Rosenthal's order stated that WorldPeace used the sites to disparage Bill Heard Enterprises, recruit clients to sue the company, obtain leverage in lawsuits and coerce the company into purchasing the domain names.

The San Antonio Express News jumps on the blogging bandwagon with a Democratc Convention-themed blog. No catchy title, RSS feed, or any other bells and whistles as far as I can tell, but at least each entry has its own link. Author Bruce Davidson may or may not file anything substantial, but he's got a good eye for the goofy so far, as this entry would attest.

Another male Democrat in the Sheraton was wearing a button that said, "I love pro-choice girls." Apparently, he is hoping for more than speeches during the four-day gathering.

Oddly, elsewhere on the site the E-N has a more traditional-style diary by a San Antonio delegate. You'd think a blog-style setup would be called for there as well, but apparently not. Naturally, that means there's no index link, but there is at least a picture of the author and an intro article about her.

Last but not least, this article about how state Democrats insist Texas' electoral votes can't be taken for granted contains a nugget to warm my heart:

The youngest Bexar County delegate is Matt Glazer, a 22-year-old Trinity University graduate.

Two of the Burnt Orange Report guys, Karl-T and Byron, are blogging up a storm in Boston. They've also gotten themselves quoted in the media an impressive number of times - see here and here for the latest examples. It'll be interesting to see if all of this dead-tree coverage leads to an increase in blog traffic for them. Have fun, guys!

UPDATE: Cate gets mentioned as well.

LULAC vs. John Culberson. That could be entertaining if it actually happens.

The local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens has challenged U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, to a debate. The topic: his proposal to bar immigrants from using an identification card issued by Mexico's government to open bank accounts in the United States.

Culberson called the challenge "a publicity stunt." LULAC media director Johnny Mata fired back that the Republican congressman isn't necessary for a debate anyway.

"We're going to hold it with or without him," Mata said. "It's a symbolic thing."

If necessary, he said, another elected official or a LULAC member "will have a debate with an empty chair."

The measure is attached to an appropriations bill scheduled for a House vote in September. Culberson said he acted after FBI and Homeland Security officials advised him that the card, known as matricula consular, can be obtained fraudulently with a fake birth certificate and that suspected Middle Eastern terrorists have used it to enter the country, posing as Hispanics.

LULAC says illegal immigrants without bank accounts often are robbed because they must carry cash.

Culberson said he would take part in a "thoughtful and rational discussion or debate that involves federal law enforcement officials, so the public can make an informed judgment."

Mata said that works for him.

How's this for a kick-butt concert tour?

Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and a deep roster of other rock stars will unite for politically minded concerts this fall that will give voice to dissatisfaction with the Bush administration.

The all-star rock shows, which are expected to begin in October and target campaign swing states, are in the planning stage but were confirmed by half a dozen music industry sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

[...]

Organizers have been tight-lipped since discussions of the idea caught the ears of some of the stars in April. At the end of last week, the formal announcement was scheduled for Aug. 4 in New York.

Other artists expected to join the lineup include Earle, the Dave Matthews Band, the Dixie Chicks, Bright Eyes, Ani DiFranco, Death Cab for Cutie and International Noise Conspiracy. There also are reports that Bob Dylan and James Taylor may be part of the bill.

The shows reportedly will benefit several organizations, chief among them MoveOn.org, the advocacy group that champions a liberal agenda through Web-based grass-roots efforts.

Rockers seem virtually unanimous in their anti-Bush stance, just as country music has seen a wave of passionate patriotism and support for the president, exemplified by the songs of Toby Keith.

Not too surprisingly, the Democratic Convention won't be featuring too many Texans.

While the delegation includes political activists and elected officials well known in their parts of the state, there are no delegates who are recognized names statewide, such as Ann Richards or Lloyd Bentsen.

And the state's most senior elected Democrat -- U.S. Rep. Martin Frost of Dallas -- is skipping the convention to attend his daughter's wedding in New Mexico.

[...]

Dallas trial lawyer Fred Baron, who is not a delegate, is a national finance vice-chairman for the campaign of Kerry and vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

And in the national Democratic battle cry of "Recount, recall and redistricting," Texas plays a pivotal role.

Recount refers to the 2000 presidential election recount, recall to the recall election of California Gov. Gray Davis and redistricting to the Republican plan to take control of the Texas congressional delegation by using three bitter special legislative sessions last year to redraw the state's congressional district boundaries.

"We've actually been brought to the center stage in a lot of ways," said Texas Democratic Chairman Charles Soechting, who heads the state's convention delegation. "There's a lot more enthusiasm than people expect. It's a mistake to write off Texas for November."

Democratic National Committeewoman Sue Lovell of Houston said Texas' prime purpose for the national ticket will be to provide funding for the campaign.

"They'll come in here with their bags, fill them up with money and take them out," Lovell said.

But for the party activists who attend the convention in Boston, she said, it will energize them to work in local races that Democrats can win, such as Beaumont U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson's fight for a congressional district against Republican Ted Poe of Houston.

"If you can't win on the national ticket, you can be inspired to be involved and win locally," Lovell said.

Democratic National Committeewoman Blanch Darley of El Paso said Kerry's campaign is trying to organize Texans to work in Las Cruces, N.M., to help get out the vote in that swing state.Darley said Democrats are fired up in the belief they can beat Bush nationally.

"A lot of people will be looking at us feeling sorry for us because we might get him (Bush) back," Darley said.

Democratic National Committeeman Ed Miller of Texarkana said Texas delegates along the border of Arkansas and Louisiana can go to the national convention to prepare themselves for work in the neighboring swing states.

Miller said whether a delegate is from Texas or a swing state, there really is not much work to be done at a national convention any more.

"Going to a national convention now is more like going to one of these television shows where they hold up the applause sign," Miller said. "It's more of a pep rally and a staged television event."

The Morning News had reported previously that most of the redistricted Congress members will not be in attendance.

Mr. Frost calls it an accident of timing. His daughter Mariel is getting married in Santa Fe, N.M., a week from Sunday, and he'll be spending much of the week there after a few days of campaigning in Dallas.

"It's a big family occasion," Mr. Frost said, adding that his daughter picked the date months ago without checking on the convention. "You can't go every time. I'm supporting Kerry and Edwards. I think it's a great ticket."

Members of Congress are automatically convention delegates, and 10 of 16 Texas Democrats plan to attend.

Reps. Max Sandlin of Marshall, Nick Lampson of Beaumont and Chet Edwards of Waco – all targets of redistricting – decided to campaign instead. So did Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin, who survived a tough primary in a district designed to favor a Hispanic and likely to stay Democratic.

The final redistricting target, 13-term Rep. Charlie Stenholm of Abilene, is being honored at an agriculture dinner Tuesday night in Boston, so he'll spend the day at the convention and the rest of the week stumping in West Texas. His opponent is freshman Rep. Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock.

"Since I'm being honored, I felt I ought to be there," Mr. Stenholm said

[...]

The only other Texas Democrat skipping the convention is Rep. Solomon Ortiz of Corpus Christi, who will be greeting Chinese businessmen exploring investment opportunities in his hometown.

Three early casualties of redistricting will play prominent roles at the convention:

• Rep. Jim Turner of Crockett, top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, will speak on the main stage Monday night, just before the broadcast TV networks plan to start live coverage.

• Rep. Ciro Rodriguez of San Antonio has several public appearances as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. But he's almost certainly on his way out of the House, after losing court appeals on a contentious Democratic primary recount.

• Freshman Rep. Chris Bell of Houston, who has an ethics complaint pending against redistricting mastermind House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, is sponsoring the Texas delegation breakfast Tuesday. And the national party wants him to spend an hour or more each day on talk radio. Mr. Bell lost his primary to a former NAACP leader, Al Green, in a district drawn to favor black candidates.

I agree with Kevin: the fact that we have a story about blogs and blogging that isn't about the phenomenon of blogging - in particular, which doesn't make a point of noting that "blog" is "short for 'weblog'" - is a milestone. I knew having Michael Kinsley run the LA Times' editorial page was a good thing, I just never realized it was that good.

Interesting Q&A with Mike Ramsey, one of Kenny Boy Lay's defense attorneys. You think he knows who his audience is here?

Q: Did you choose criminal defense work right out of law school?

A: People ask how some left-wing crazy like me from some place like Nacogdoches, where I really started, got to this. And I've often answered that I read my Constitution in the light of a burning cross.

I think that if you read constitutional history you understand that we, America, right now are far and away the great power of the earth. And if there is a danger to the Republic, it comes from concentration of power in the hands of a few in Washington, not from an outside force of any sort. We're impervious to that.

No one will topple America from the outside. But we may very well lose liberties internally. And if people are not willing to stand up and challenge the government, then the government continues to assume more and more power over us as individuals.

Until you see how vicious it becomes out on the point of a stick where it pierces flesh, you don't understand how powerful the government really is and needs to be held in check.

And if there is any redeeming social value to the defense practice, it is that we are the people to whom it is given the high duty, I believe, to stand up and tell the government to go to hell when they need to be told that.

And this is such a case.

Q: Do you see the Enron Task Force as part of this potential growing evil?

A: Yes. I think that the constitution of any special group of prosecutors who pick their target before they do their investigation is dangerous and an aberration that shouldn't be tolerated.

Meanwhile, Tom Kirkendall has some good stuff on the ongoing PR war between Team Lay and Team Fed, and the implications of the Causey-Fastow memo, which has certainly tightened the noose around the neck of former Enron chief accountant Rick Causey, but which might prove to be a key piece of exculpatory evidence for Lay and Jeff Skilling. Check it out.

Oops. The backlash has forced Governor Perry to cut loose Marty McCartt, the wife of the lobbyist to whom he gave a cushy job.

The wife of a lobbyist with close ties to the governor has resigned from her job with the Texas Health Department, saying she feared her continued employment would distract from the efforts of the fitness campaign she was hired to lead.

The Houston Chronicle reported last week that Martha "Marty" McCartt began directing the Texas Round-up festival, a program touted by Gov. Rick Perry, on July 1 with a salary of $40,000. The newspaper reported the job was not advertised or posted as normally required for state positions at that level.

Health Department spokesman Doug McBride said Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins waived that requirement.

McCartt said in a resignation letter sent Friday to the Texas Department of Health that she would continue to serve as festival director and would work with an organization that will raise donations to support it.

"I am concerned that my continued employment with the Texas Department of Health would serve as a distraction from the important cause of fighting obesity and promoting healthy choices and physical activity," she wrote.

The governor's office has said that the recommendation to hire McCartt was based solely on her work to create and coordinate the first Texas Round-up. She said she left a higher-paying job when she was told about the job as director of Texas Round-up.

McCartt's husband, J. McCartt, is treasurer of a political action committee that pushed an amendment to finance highway construction through the Texas Mobility Fund in 2001.

Boy, that got resolved in a hurry.

Actors George Eads and Jorja Fox will both be back on the job next week at "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" after learning a lesson in hardball network politics.

Eads reached an agreement Friday to return to television's most popular drama after he was fired for skipping work in what CBS believed was a contract dispute, CBS entertainment spokesman Chris Ender said.

He rejoins Jorja Fox, who came to her own agreement to come back on Thursday.

Andrew D highlights some of the competitive State House races and how the candidates are doing with fundraising. Most impressive is Mark Strama, but Kelly White and Hubert Vo, both of whom you'll be seeing on Texas Tuesdays in the coming weeks, are also doing well. Check it out.

UPDATE: According to Governing Magazine, more than half of the states, control of one or both chambers of the state legislatures are up for grabs. Not surprisingly, Texas wasn't mentioned. I think the Dems have a decent shot at making some gains, but they need 14 seats for control, and that ain't gonna happen. Still, this will be an interesting subplot to keep an eye on. Via Political Wire.

So it turns out that all those records about George W. Bush's TANG service in 1972 were not "inadvertently" destroyed after all. They were "inadvertently oversighted", or something like that, instead. Still no actual indication what Bush was doing during the time in question. I'll echo the confusion of Atrios and Josh Marshall.

One piece of data that did emerge is that Bush apparently had his payroll checks mailed to 2910 Westheimer, approximately where the Chuy's Tex-Mex restaurant now stands. Ginger is going to ask her mom what was there at that time. Having married into a fourth-generation-Houstonian family, I'll be doing the same of my in-laws. We'll compare notes and get back to you.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has responded to a claim by independent candidate Tom Bazan that she failed to file her candidacy papers for the Democratic primary on time in January.

U.S. Rep Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, asked a state district judge Friday to toss out a lawsuit filed against her by an opponent in the November general election.

Jackson Lee's motion in state district court claims the suit brought against her by Tom Bazan, an independent candidate for the 18th Congressional District Jackson Lee represents, is "legally wrong and factually wrong," said John O'Quinn, the congresswoman's attorney.

Bazan filed his suit July 15 in state district court, claiming Jackson Lee is ineligible for the general election Nov. 2 because she did not file her application on time for the Democratic Primary earlier this year.

Jackson Lee's application is dated Jan. 13. The deadline was Jan. 16. Gerry Birnberg, chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party, said in an affidavit attached to Jackson Lee's motion that he witnessed her sign, date and turn in the application before the deadline.

By law, Bazan should have filed his lawsuit before the primary election, O'Quinn said.

Since 1991, the city of Houston has had term limits in place for municipal offices - three two-year terms for a given office: Council, whether district or at-large; Comptroller; Mayor. Since not long after 1991, there's been a push to modify this law, with a change to two four-year terms being the preferred alternative proposal. Now there's another possibility on the table.

A group of political insiders will decide soon whether to push for a measure on the November ballot that would allow Houston's mayor, controller and council members to stay in office two years longer than term limits now permit.

"We are leaning strongly toward going forward," said Bill King, managing partner at the law firm Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, which collects delinquent taxes and parking fines for the city.

King and other proponents of the plan would need to move quickly to gather more than 20,000 signatures by a deadline in late August.

They would propose that city officials be limited to four two-year terms and that former officials be allowed to run again after sitting out two terms.

The new limits would apply to current officeholders.

I believe that term limits are wrong, a position I rather uncomfortably share with Tom DeLay and an increasing number of local Republicans, which is undoubtedly why this issue is starting to gain traction around here. I'll vote for this proposal, even though I think its effect will be to dampen any enthusiasm for obliterating term limits altogether, as it is nonetheless a step in the right direction. I just wish it were a bolder step.

Sidebar: How is it that someone managed to write an entire article about term limits in Houston without quoting Clymer Wright? Did he move or something?

I thought the whole Annie Jacobsen story was an embarrassment from the beginning, but after reading this, I wouldn't want to leave the house any time soon if I were Ms. Jacobsen.

Undercover federal air marshals on board a June 29 Northwest airlines flight from Detroit to LAX identified themselves after a passenger, “overreacted,” to a group of middle-eastern men on board, federal officials and sources have told KFI NEWS.

The passenger, later identified as Annie Jacobsen, was in danger of panicking other passengers and creating a larger problem on the plane, according to a source close to the secretive federal protective service.

Jacobsen, a self-described freelance writer, has published two stories about her experience at womenswallstreet.com, a business advice web site designed for women.

“The lady was overreacting,” said the source. “A flight attendant was told to tell the passenger to calm down; that there were air marshals on the plane.”

The middle eastern men were identified by federal agents as a group of touring musicians travelling to a concert date at a casino, said Air Marshals spokesman Dave Adams.

[...]

“In concert with the flight crew, the decision was made to keep [the men] under surveillance since no terrorist or criminal acts were being perpetrated aboard the aircraft; they didn’t interfere with the flight crew,” Adams said.

The air marshals did, however, check the bathrooms after the middle-eastern men had spent time inside, Adams said.

FBI agents met the plane when it landed in Los Angeles and the men were questioned, and Los Angeles field office spokeswoman Cathy Viray said it’s significant the alarm on the flight came from a passenger.

“We have to take all calls seriously, but the passenger was worried, not the flight crew or the federal air marshals,” she said. “The complaint did not stem from the flight crew.”

[...]

The source said the air marshals on the flight were partially concerned Jacobsen’s actions could have been an effort by terrorists or attackers to create a disturbance on the plane to force the agents to identify themselves.

Air marshals’ only tactical advantage on a flight is their anonymity, the source said, and Jacobsen could have put the entire flight in danger.

“They have to be very cognizant of their surroundings,” spokesman Adams confirmed, “to make sure it isn’t a ruse to try and pull them out of their cover.”

Via Political Animal.

Major congrats to Jay Allen, creator of the indispensible MT Blacklist for winning the grand prize in the Movable Type 3.0 Plugin Contest. If you use Movable Type and you're not using MT Blacklist, you're probably spending way more time and energy deleting comment spams than you need to be. Frankly, this endorsement of his MT 3.0-compatible version is enough in my mind to take the upgrade plunge in the near future. Way to go, Jay!

I don't often comment on national news, mostly because there are so many other fine outlets for such things, but I have a few words to say about the attempt by the Republicans in Congress to force DOMA-related lawsuits out of the federal courts. I just can't decide if I find this sort of behavior outrageous or pitiable. I mean, for crying out loud, we've just had the 9/11 Commission's report which baldly stated that "we are not safe", we've got the Army dragging 67-year-olds back into service because they don't have any better non-draft options for manpower in Iraq (one wonders when someone will consider doing something about this), we've still got a crappy economy and huge structural budget deficits, and this is what the GOP leadership thinks is important? How unserious can you get?

Even putting the issue of priorities aside, one must also wonder how a group that claims to be "conservative" can have such utter contempt for history and precedent. The Washington Post has it right - "this is as wrong as wrong can be."

I'm fairly sure that the (relative) grownups in the Senate will give this the attention it deserves, but still. There's just no excuse for this kind of bull. Thankfully, there is a remedy, both for the general issue and for the leadership issue.

UPDATE: Josh Chafetz says "Put simply, Congress can't do that." This bill wasn't just a bad idea, it was an unconstitutional bad idea. Way to go, GOP! Via Grammar Police.

Meet Molson Coors Brewing.

Adolph Coors Co. agreed Thursday to inherit a Canadian cousin and take a back seat in naming rights under the proposed Molson Coors Brewing Co.

In what company officials described as a merger of equals, Pete Coors and Eric Molson, chairmen of the respective firms, said the $6 billion deal will help the historic breweries maintain their centuries of family control while giving them more financial strength to compete against the Budweisers, SABMillers and Heinekens of the beer world.

Under the merger agreement, the Coors and Molson companies would maintain dual headquarters: Molson in its home city of Montreal and Coors in metro Denver, at a site not yet determined, but separate from its brewery in Golden.

Officials said they expect the merger to produce $175 million a year in cost savings by 2007. The biggest component, representing savings of $60 million, would come from what O'Neill called was described as "optimization" of Molson's five breweries in Canada and Coors' two, in Golden and Memphis, Tenn.

Colorado Luis speculates how the merger might affect Pete Coors' Senate bid. As for me, the official Rules of Texas Progressive Blogging state that I cannot mention Coors Beer without also mentioning the Austin Lounge Lizards classic song A Case of Coors Beer. So there.

Andrea Yates is doing better at the psychiatric hospital in Galveston, though she's still clearly very ill.

Andrea Yates, who three years ago drowned her children in a bathtub, was reported to be improving in a hospital here Thursday although her mother said she did not realize she had been brought to Galveston.

Yates was transferred from the Skyview Unit, a prison psychiatric facility near Rusk, to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston on Monday after lapsing into what doctors called "an acute confusional state."

Her mental and physical state had declined for the past six to eight weeks, they said.

Jutta Kennedy said her daughter, who had stopped eating and lost about 30 pounds, is under a suicide watch and has an attendant with her 24 hours a day.

Kennedy, her two sons and attorney John O'Sullivan visited Yates for a little more than an hour Thursday.

Afterward, Kennedy said her daughter seemed comforted to see her, although "she doesn't know what she is saying." After exchanging pleasantries, she said, Yates asked how the children were.

"I told her they are fine and that they are in heaven and that's the best place to be. I don't know what else to say," Kennedy said, with tears in her eyes.

I don't see anything in Google News yet, but according to this Roll Call article, sent to me by the ever-vigilant AJ Garcia, the House Ethics Committee has exercised its option to put off doing anything on the complaint by Chris Bell against Tom DeLay for 45 days.

Reps. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) and Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), the panel’s chairman and ranking member, respectively, now have until early September to decide if their panel will take up a complaint against DeLay that was filed by Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas).

On Thursday, DeLay filed a lengthy response to Bell’s complaint — a massive filing that one GOP insider described as a call for the ethics panel to dismiss Bell’s “invalid, illegitimate and politically motivated” complaint.

Bell has alleged that DeLay illegally solicited campaign contributions in return for favorable legislation, misused a Texas political action committee to improperly funnel corporate donations to Texas state candidates, and abused his office.

DeLay and his GOP supporters have vehemently denied the charges.

The ethics committee was scheduled to release a statement tonight or early tomorrow announcing its decision, but no statement was released by press time.

In the meantime, the ethics committee is also continuing its investigation into whether GOP lawmakers improperly pressured Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) during a Nov. 22 vote on Medicare reform legislation, said House insiders. The panel now hopes to complete that investigation by the end of September, although it is unclear when Hefley and Mollohan expect to have a final disposition in that case.

UPDATE: It's on the wires now.

Hey, they named a park in New Jersey after Phil Rizzuto, the Yankees' Hall of Fame shortstop and broadcaster.

Holy Cow! Former New York Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto was on hand Wednesday to dedicate a park named in his honor. But those huckleberries eliminated the three baseball fields that used to be there in favor of a soccer field!

There is a soccer field, a gazebo with a replica of the Yankee Stadium facade, and some oversized bats and balls at Phil Rizzuto Park. But there are no traces of the three baseball diamonds that used to be home to a local youth baseball league.

The park, at one of Union County's busiest intersections where Union, Elizabeth and Hillside meet, is named after the Hall of Fame shortstop and 40-year Yankees broadcaster. With the area's growing Latino population, it was practical for the soccer field to supplant baseball diamonds at the site, said Angel Estrada, chairman of the county freeholder board.

"We have the soccer field because it's what our kids need today," he said.

And of course, the subject of his musical stardom came up:

"I want to tell you about that huckleberry," Rizzuto said, using one of his favorite expressions to describe Meat Loaf, a huge Yankee fan. "He really tricked me into it. He said, 'Phil, I have an idea for a song, I want you to come. We just want you to say these words.'

"All of a sudden I started reading the paper he put in front of me, and I said, 'Wait a minute: Why is every play a close play?' Finally we got through it. A year later, my son calls me up and says, 'Dad, you're a rock star. We got your record here, 'Paradise By The Dashboard Light.' He had to play it about six times before I realized what it was about."

Rizzuto said he enjoyed the recording session, terming it "a good day's pay."

"I got in trouble with some of the nuns because of some of the language," he said. "But then they forgot about it."

There's just one thing The Scooter still wonders about from his fictional account of the front-seat follies.

"We never found out whether he made it or not."

Thanks to 26 Rings Around New York for the link.

All of you who are surprised to hear that Governor Perry received large campaign contributions from horse racing interests shortly before the special session in which he proposed to allow slot machines at horse tracks, raise your hands. No one? I didn't think so.

The $232,800 in donations rolled in on Feb. 11, a couple of months after Perry's office acknowledged that Chief of Staff Mike Toomey had begun talks with certain groups about a proposal to allow video lottery terminals at racetracks and Indian reservations to help raise education funds.

[...]

Perry's office on Wednesday denied any questionable fund raising with the racing lobby, which stood to gain as much as $10 billion, by some estimates, if video lottery terminals were allowed at dog and horse tracks.

Robert Black, a Perry spokesman, said the donations were typical of the governor's fund-raising efforts.

Already, Perry's campaign has collected $5.1 million for the 2006 race.

Black said Perry had a fund-raiser in Austin on Feb. 11, which has been his most profitable campaign day so far, taking in a total $307,745, mostly from breeders and racetrack owners.

"The governor has supporters on both sides of the issue," said Black, responding to the report, "those who support gambling and those who oppose it. We have numerous campaign donations, and our books are open for all to see."

On that day, Houston-based Maxxam Texas PAC, affiliated with Maxxam Inc., which owns Sam Houston Race Park, topped the list with a $50,000 donation. In all, 67 donors accounted for the total.

Craig McDonald, executive director of Texans for Public Justice, said the timing of the gifts suggests the gambling interests tried to buy their way into the Legislature.

"It matters that his supporters who would profit most from gambling all seemed to reach him at the same critical time," McDonald said. "I can't say for sure that they influenced Perry, but it sure looks like it, or it at least deserves questioning. Why else would Perry support ideas even his own party doesn't support?"

That said, it should be clear to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that these donations stink.

McDonald pointed out that the timing of the donations — more than a year and a half away from the gubernatorial election — makes them unusual.

Officials with Max-PAC and other donors, however, said their checks were run-of-the-mill contributions that they have given to candidates from both major parties in any given year. The timing was coincidental, they said.

"I suspect our check was submitted independently," said Elizabeth Brumley, Max-PAC treasurer. "We just happened to cut a check that day."

Harlan Crow, who owns a significant stake in Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, contributed $25,000 on Feb. 11. Lone Star Park President Corey Johnsen was one of the company's officials who kicked in an additional $5,000.

"I wrote a check in support of something I believed in," Johnsen said. "I don't think it's a case of us coming together as a group. If it was, I honestly can't remember. I make a lot of donations, and I believe in writing a personal check as an individual to the person I'm supporting."

I've set up an ActBlue page for all of the Texas Tuesdays Congressional candidates (ActBlue is for federal candidates only, so no State Rep hopefuls). It'll serve as a repository for links to the profile/interview posts that we've done and will do, and as a convenient entry point for making donations. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Via Women's Hoops and Off Wing Opinion comes this article from The Oregonian about how modern coaches are recruiting players to their college programs.

Pam Stackhouse spent a recent workday making phone calls, writing letters and sending e-mails lobbying high school basketball stars to consider playing for the University of Kentucky.

But when the women's basketball assistant coach's cell phone buzzed at 9 p.m., as she dined at a restaurant, she did not hesitate. She left her friends, sat in the lobby and tapped out a 15-minute text message conversation -- "on my phone, click-click-click" -- with Kentucky's top prospect.

Stackhouse's reasoning was stark: "If I don't respond, then she's going to text coach So-and-So at the other university."

Burgeoning tales of coaches tethered to electronic gadgets have led to an unusual request. This week, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association recommended that the National Collegiate Athletic Association outlaw instant messaging and text messaging in recruiting.

The proposal came after extended discussion, with some coaches questioning why colleagues wanted to further restrict colleges' already limited access to high school players. The NCAA already regulates face-to-face contacts between coaches and players, and limits coaches' phone calls and visits.

Yet perhaps as remarkable as the women's coaches' debate about technology is that men's coaches, often on the cutting edge of controversy, have barely addressed the issue.

I'm also not sure what the rationale for banning IM contact between players and coaches is. Seems to me that the oversight types ought to be happy with this kind of development, since with IM and email, there's a (virtual) paper trail to document any instances of recruiting violations. You'd be taking a much greater risk if you were to make an inapproriate promise to a recruit in this fashion since there's no way at all you can erase your tracks. Heck, if I were an NCAA rules enforcer, I'd encourage this, and I'd push for the ability to do random audits of coaches' communications with players. I'll bet that would have a salutary effect.

It's not easy being a Democrat in Williamson County these days.

With the Democratic National Convention set to unfold next week in Boston, the county's Democratic candidates aren't giving voters much to cheer about. Unlike decades past, when they dominated Williamson County's political stage, only four Democrats who live here appeared on the March primary ballot and will be on the November general ballot.

And in a county with an estimated 300,000 people, the presidential primary in March -- by which time Sen. John Kerry had all but sewn up the party's nomination -- drew a mere 8,152 Democrats to the polls, compared to three times as many Republicans.

Currently, Democrats don't hold a single public office in this staunchly conservative county.

"This year, there are four of us either brave enough or stupid enough to stand up and say, 'Let's take on the monster and see what happens,' " said Jon Porter, a Cedar Park attorney and political newcomer trying to reach Congress.

To get there, he must defeat U.S. Rep. John Carter, a Central Texas Republican heavyweight who holds the District 31 congressional seat.

Porter, who calls the 62-year-old Carter the "grandfather" of the Williamson County Republican Party, said he ran because nobody else would.

"The myth that Williamson County is a Republican county has become a self-fulfilling prophecy because no Democrat candidates have stood up and run," said Porter, 33. "So Williamson County is now a Communist county because we only have one party to choose from." Melissa Irion, a Williamson County delegate to the national convention said she expects the John Kerry-John Edwards presidential ticket to attract Democratic voters at all levels.

"People want to have a say about the war in Iraq and about George Bush's record," she said. "People aren't necessarily going to go to the polls for county commissioners, but once they're there voting for John Kerry they're going to say, 'I want to make a change.' "

If you're into trendwatching, the Democrats' high-water mark in 2002 in Williamson was John Sharp's 39.74% of the vote. Kirk Watson was next best with 38.44%. John Carter's opponent, David Bagley, drew 27.34% here, essentially matching his overall percentage. The best statewide performer in 1998 was Paul Hobby with 42.43%, followed by Sharp with 41.31%. In 2000, Bush beat Gore here 67.79% to 27.71%, a much wider spread than 1996 when Dole beat Clinton 55.37% to 36.34% (Perot got 7.41%). I'd put money on Bush matching his result this year, which would make Jon Porter's hill a bit steeper if that were possible. (All data from the Historical Elections Index at the Secretary of State's page.)

The House Ethics Committee meets today, and judging from the comments of Chairman Joel Hefley, it looks like they know how to stay bought:

"The so-called good government groups always want us to do an outside counsel," said committee Chairman Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo. "I have never supported doing an outside counsel.

"This is an internal police mechanism for the House of Representatives," Hefley said.

Let's say you get called for jury duty. It happens that the person on trial once gave you money. Would you expect to get picked for that jury?

Heck, no.

You'd expect to be sent home, pronto, and for good reason.

Even if you, as an upright and fair-minded citizen, could put the financial tie completely out of your mind, how could those of us looking on, who can't get inside your head, be confident in your impartiality?

That's essentially the situation in Washington, where Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas stands accused of unethical fund-raising practices. Four of the five Republicans on the committee investigating him have received money from his political action committee.

Libertarian Party candidate for President Michael Badnarik will be on the Texas ballot in November.

Election officials announced Tuesday that the Libertarian Party has met the requirements to get its candidates on the November second ballot in Texas.

As a third party, the Libertarians were required to submit a petition with 45,540 signatures of registered Texans who did not vote in the GOP or Democratic primaries.

Secretary of State Geoff Connor said Libertarians produced more than 82,000 valid signatures.

Austin computer programmer Michael Badnarik is the Libertarian nominee for president.

Today (Thursday) at 9am, the Ralph Nader campaign is scheduled to appear in federal court (200 W. Eighth) in a lawsuit (Nader et al. v. Connor) charging that the Texas ballot access law is unconstitutional on three grounds:

The May 10 deadline for signatures, earlier than any other state, is unnecessary and discriminatory;

The requirement that independent candidates collect more than 64,000 signatures – nearly 20,000 more than the requirement for third party candidates – is also discriminatory; and

The accelerated schedule for independent candidates (60 days to collect signatures vs. 75 days for third parties) has the same effect.

The Texas ballot requirements for independent candidates have been in place for 20 years. Secretary of State Geoff Connor has noted that Reform Party candidates Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 and Pat Buchanan in 2000 managed to get on the Texas ballot as independents.

UPDATE: Forgot to link to this profile of Michael Badnarik and how he got the LP nod. He certainly is, um, unconventional.

Badnarik believes that the federal income tax has no legal authority and that people are justified in refusing to file a tax return until such time as the IRS provides them with an explanation of its authority to collect the tax. He hadn't filed income tax returns for several years. He moved from California to Texas because of Texas' more liberal gun laws, but he refused to obtain a Texas driver's license because the state requires drivers to provide their fingerprints and Social Security numbers. He has been ticketed several times for driving without a license; sometimes he has gotten off for various technical legal reasons, but on three occasions he has been convicted and paid a fine. He also refused to use postal ZIP codes, seeing them as "federal territories."

New blog in town, from Drive Democracy, featuring "Drive Democracy Director Glenn Smith, former Texas Observer editor Geoff Rips, and one of Texas’ most experienced online activists, Nathan Wilcox" plus various Special Guest Stars. Their initial post is about economic opportunity and voter turnout. Check it out.

Jim Bonham, executive director of the DCCC, has a guest post up at The Stakeholder which gives an update on Ginny Schrader and what it will take to get the full advantage of this new pickup opportunity. Given the excellent news about the Democrats' fundraising, I'm feeling more optimistic each day about November. Realistically optimistic, but optimistic nonetheless. Keep up the great work, DCCC!

The MIT Technology Review Blog points to these two discussions of electronic voting by David Pogue that are worth reading. In the second piece, he prints an email from my buddy Dan Wallach that ought to curl a few hairs here in Houston:

“Here in Texas, where early voting lasts maybe two weeks or so, I’ve learned that the poll workers take the machines home with them at night. Imagine the opportunity, in the comfort and privacy of your home, to ’upgrade’ the software on these machines. The tamper-resistance measures they take (special tape or numbered tie-wrap seals) can be easily gotten around if you’ve got the time and privacy to work on it. Some election officials require that their poll workers pass basic background checks (i.e., they have no felony convictions), but that’s hardly reassuring.“

Unasked question: What did we do with the boxes of chad-punched ballots during the early voting periods of yore? Probably the same thing. Never forget the human element in data security.

That sound you hear is the last dying breath of a special session on school finance reform.

The Texas school funding crisis should be addressed along with a slew of other state budget demands during the Legislature's regular January meeting, the chief budget writer in the House says.

The sentiment from Rep. Talmadge Heflin is the latest from the Capitol to indicate that there won't be a special legislative session this summer to take up the contentious issue.

[...]

"On an issue as tough as school finance, we also have to look at the entire tax code, not just a part that focuses on public education," said Mr. Heflin, a Houston Republican who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "Education has to be in competition with everything else. We can't just isolate it and say we will give education all this money without regard to everything else."

[...]

Several lawmakers are waging re-election campaigns, a possible distraction from public education.

In January, "we can capitalize on the change of attitude that may occur after the election cycle," Mr. Heflin said.

Recently elected Senator Kevin Eltife has gone on record opposing Gov. Rick Perry’s “sin-tax” proposals. Stating this to be the “…most important issue facing the legislature,” Sen. Eltife voiced his doubt that another special session looms for Texas legislatures.

“I think the chances for another special session are not very good,” he said. “I was hoping we could reach a consensus in Austin on how to solve the school finance issue and thus have another special session to focus on this important issue. Unfortunately it does not look like that will happen.

“It looks like we will have to wait until the Regular Session in 2005. I welcome the opportunity to work on solving the problem, reducing the property tax burden on homeowners and finding additional revenue for our public schools. I believe this is the most important issue facing our state.”

While they didn't laugh and say, "When pigs fly," Angelina County's state lawmakers did say Wednesday it is unlikely that the Texas House and Senate will come to the consensus needed for the governor to call another special session on school finance this summer.

"Although members of the House and the Senate are still working toward reaching a consensus, the chance of another special session on school finance being called diminishes with each passing day as we approach the start of the 79th Legislative Session," said state Sen. Todd Staples, R-Palestine.

[...]

"In my personal judgment, I don't think we're any closer to reaching any kind of consensus," said state Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin. "Consequently, I'd be surprised if (Perry) did call another special session."

And finally, more from the Governor himself.

"We'll have a better idea then of our economic situation" in Texas, Perry said. "I was talking about this with the lieutenant governor (David Dewhurst) on the way down here. There's still time (for a 2004 special session), but it's a difficult issue. It's a tough issue, complex and volatile for a number of reasons.

"Whether we have this in August or in the '05 session, it's not going to go away," Perry said.

If you want a preview of the 2006 Republican primary for Governor, here it is from the Fat Cat perspective.

Some big Republican givers are choosing sides in the battle between Gov. Rick Perry and state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, campaign finance reports filed Thursday indicate.

Four of the biggest GOP donors, who regularly sign $25,000 checks to politicians, declined in the last six months to give to Mrs. Strayhorn.

[...]

In the campaign reports, noticeably absent from the contributors to Mrs. Strayhorn was [James] Leininger, who had donated $100,000 to her from January 2000 through June 2003.

Also missing are Dallas oilman Louis Beecherl, who had given $65,000 over the same period; Houston homebuilder Bob Perry, who had provided $160,000 previously; and chemical company executive William McMinn, who had given $125,000.

All four men gave to Mr. Perry this time, for a total of $175,000.

Bill Miller, whose Austin public relations and lobbying firm represents Bob Perry, said the omission was purposeful.

"He's unhappy with her criticism of other Republican leaders," Mr. Miller said of his client.

[...]

Several big GOP donors continued to give to both candidates, including Lonnie Pilgrim, Harlan Crow, H. Zachary, Mike Rutherford, Kenneth Banks and Robert and Gordon Johnson. They gave a total of $110,000 to Mr. Perry and $163,000 to Mrs. Strayhorn.

Mr. Perry reported that he had $5.1 million in his campaign war chest; Mrs. Strayhorn reported having $3.6 million.

This is no surprise.

Texas prison officials transferred Andrea Yates to John Sealy Hospital Monday because she has lost a significant amount of weight and her mental and physical condition has deteriorated, George Parnham said.

"There's just a blackness to her mental state right now," he said.

Parnham, who represented Yates in her trial and is handling her appeal, said he hopes to meet with her as soon as Thursday at the hospital, part of the University of Texas Medical Branch.

He said, however, "she's in no shape to talk" at present and basically is "incoherent."

Parnham said he did not know whether Yates, 40, was being fed intravenously or how much weight she has lost, but that it is a considerable amount.

[...]

[Rusty Yates] said this is the third time during his wife's prison stay that she has lapsed into what he called a "psychotic" state, adding that "this is the worst I've ever seen her, even before the tragedy."

Yates, who described his wife as "fragile" and "precious," said he last visited her on Saturday, as he does about every two weeks. He said she was shaking and delusional. "She thinks the kids are still alive," he said.

[...]

Parnham said Tuesday that Yates' physical and mental condition has remained delicate.

He said he visited her three weeks ago, but would not comment on what might have sent her into this latest tailspin. Parnham did say she is suffering from severe depression.

"There are a number of issues that have led to (this)," he said.

"She is just physically and mentally exhausted. And obviously, there is concern for her physical well-being, which prompted the transfer."

Parnham praised the treatment Yates has received for her problems, both mental and physical, at the Skyview Unit.

"But it's not a general hospital, and John Sealy is and has an excellent reputation," he said. "She's reached a point where, mentally and physically, she's having a very difficult time."

Tom Kirkendall points to this Business Week article which gives an overview of the case that Kenny Boy Lay engaged in insider trading as Enron was imploding, and also explains why it's the SEC and not the federal prosecutors who are pursuing it (short answer: their burden of proof is lower). It's an interesting read and a useful counterbalance to the earlier piece which basically laid out Lay's defense against these charges. Check it out.

The Alamo Drafthouse is going nationwide.

Tim and Karrie League have sold the franchise and marketing operations of Alamo Drafthouse to Terrell Braly, the company's CEO; John Martin, the company's principal partner; and a silent partner. The new company is known as Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas Ltd.

[...]

Because League will be chief creative officer of the new company, the franchises will continue to have the Austin feel of the original Alamo Drafthouse, which features art house films along with B-grade movies such as "Night of the Bloody Apes."

Based on a report by business research firm D&B, Alamo Drafthouse has gross sales of about $900,000 per screen annually, nearly double the industry standard, even though Alamo theaters generally have smaller auditoriums than those found in megaplexes. The reason for the difference: Alamo patrons are willing to plunk down, on average, $15 for a burger and a couple of beers in addition to the $7.50 ticket price.

Braly said the sale came after a year of discussions between him and the Leagues. Braly said he had wanted to buy a "significant equity position" in the company when he joined Alamo Drafthouse in April 2002 as the venue rental manager, but a year ago discussions began on buying the franchise operations.

[...]

The first franchise was awarded two years ago to Travis Doss, a University of Texas graduate, who opened the first first theater outside of Austin in a refitted movie house in West Houston.

Doss' Neighborhood Theater Group is working on adding four more theaters in the Houston area, three of which will be built from the ground up.

Another group, Real Dinner Partners, was awarded a franchise last year. It is opening its first theater in San Antonio next month and building another in San Marcos early next year. Real Dinner Partners is planning a second San Antonio location as well as theaters in Waco, Midland, Tyler, San Angelo and Corpus Christi.

Braly said the success and quick expansion of current franchisees prove the Alamo Drafthouse is no longer just a concept but a "real company."

The franchisees each paid $50,000 for the franchise and send 5 percent of their weekly gross revenue to the company as a franchise fee.

Ultimately, the company plans to have 20 franchises and 200 theaters nationwide.

Braly said he and Martin are talking with two other possible franchisees who want to open stores in Colorado and Florida.

"We've had people fly into Austin to see the theaters. That's when we know they are serious," Martin said.

Braly said the goal was to have the 200 theaters in five years. Now, he said, that "may be done in three."

When one encounters the headline Downtown could get high-tech pay toilets in the daily fishwrap, there are two questions that leap to mind right away: One, how many toilet-related puns will the story include, and two, how many times will Kevin use the phrase "world-class" when he blogs about it?

Flush with success from projects that put decorative paving bricks on Main Street, expanded the downtown tunnel system and helped renovate the Rice Hotel, central Houston's redevelopment authority is turning its attention to matters more primal: public pay toilets.

"It evokes so much laughter," said Vicki Rivers, executive director of the Main Street Market Square Redevelopment Authority, "but it is a serious situation. My board members are very supportive of doing this."

Plumbing for five toilets was installed along Main Street during downtown's recent face-lift, and Rivers and her staff have started researching the array of self-flushing, self-sanitizing toilets on the market. But the project has been stalled by a bureaucratic clog: While Rivers' group, the business arm of a tax increment reinvestment zone, can buy the toilets, it can't pay to maintain them.

The redevelopment authority has rejected a Swiss-made toilet unit with walls that are one-way mirrors, allowing users to view passers-by and activities outside the building as clearly as if through a normal window.

"People might be uneasy in this unit," Rivers said. "They might feel as if their privacy had been violated."

Well, if you hate radio commercials as much as I do, here's some good news for you.

Beginning Jan. 1, Clear Channel — which owns six San Antonio radio stations — will reduce the number of commercials it plays every hour on its stations nationwide.

It's one of many initiatives San Antonio-based Clear Channel plans in the next few months to keep listeners tuning into its stations, Clear Channel Radio CEO John Hogan said

Clear Channel wants to ensure it serves its audiences and doesn't become obsolete in a rapidly changing industry, Hogan said last week.

In Monday's announcement, Clear Channel officials didn't specify the number of commercials each station will run. It said only that the new limit will apply to all its stations, and the commercial count will depend on format and time.

To compete, Clear Channel Radio also plans to convert hundreds of its 1,200 radio stations to high-definition digital signals, Hogan said. He declined to provide further details or a timetable. High-definition radio provides CD-quality music.

"You don't want to be the only analog medium left," said James Marsh, senior broadcasting analyst with SG Cowen, a research firm in New York.

The conversion to digital radio takes one of the selling points away from satellite radio, which promotes itself as high-quality, commercial-free radio, Marsh said.

Cutting the number of commercials will allow the stations to please listeners and hopefully charge more for limited advertising time, said Lee Westerfield, media analyst with Harris Nesbitt in New York.

"Based upon well-tested audience behavior, we know that less talk, more music, means more listening," Westerfield said.

The move to digital radio also will provide better-sounding music and more information, Westerfield said.

Radio is heard by or touches more Americans on a weekly basis than any other media, Westerfield said, but time spent listening to radio has been reduced from 22 minutes to 19 minutes weekly.

Cutting commercials and moving to a digital format are designed to curb that declining trend.

By now, you've probably heard of Ginny Schrader, the Democratic candidate in PA's 8th CD who is the recipient of the good news that incumbent Rep. Jim Greenwood is dropping out. This is good news, as it's a new pickup opportunity in a district that voted for Al Gore and Ed Rendell. Schrader has gotten some love from the blog community, and there's an ActBlue page to make it easier to donate.

Swing State Project makes an interesting point about this latest development.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that as Bush's situation looks more dire, and the prospects for Democrats to retake the Presidency and Congress look better and better, more Republicans will start announcing their retirements. If you're in your 60s, say, and facing the possibility of returning to D.C. in the minority party, the warm embrace of your grandkids - and that cushy lobbying job in the private sector - start to look very tempting.

It's also important to keep in mind that no matter how gung-ho Democrats are this year about retaking the House, it's a tough road to hoe, and it's more than a matter of just 11 seats.

So how could Democrats pick up the 11 seats (or, actually, 12 seats, since Democrats are not contesting a new seat in Texas) that they need to win the majority? First, they need to hold on to all three of their competitive open seats -- in PA-13, KY-04, and LA-07 -- as well as those of at least two of their five endangered incumbents in Texas.

[...]

In Texas, Democratic insiders point to seven-term Rep. Chet Edwards as the endangered Democrat most likely to win. He has proven his ability to prevail in tough districts and tough political climates. But GOP state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth has the district's demographics on her side, and she has already proved that she can handle the rough-and-tumble of a campaign. GOP polls in three Texas districts (Rep. Nick Lampson's 2nd District, Rep. Max Sandlin's 1st District, and Rep. Charles Stenholm's 19th district) show the Democratic incumbent trailing.

If Democrats win those races, they would then need to pick up the six competitive GOP-held open seats: LA-03, NY-27, CO-03, PA-15, WA-05, and WA-08. District demographics and solid candidates make LA-03, NY-27, CO-03, and WA-08 the strongest opportunities for Democrats. By the numbers, the Buffalo-based NY-27 is the most Democratic-leaning of the bunch; Gore won the district with 53 percent. Yet Erie County Comptroller Nancy Naples is a strong Republican candidate whose moderate profile will be tough for Democrats to attack. In Colorado's 3rd District, a Democratic poll shows potato farmer and Democratic state Rep. John Salazar ahead of all of his potential GOP rivals. Republicans are counting on the conservative lean of that district to push their nominee over the finish line.

Even if Democrats should win all the competitive Republican open seats, they would still be short of a majority by nine seats and would need to start defeating Republican incumbents. Just two -- Rick Renzi in AZ-01 and Max Burns in GA-12 -- are now in toss-up races. The next tier of vulnerable Republicans, which includes freshman Reps. Jon Porter (NV-03) and Bob Beauprez (CO-07), is made up of seven incumbents.

Democrats contend, however, that they have credible candidates in enough other districts (the open seat in NE-01, for example), and against such long-term incumbents as Clay Shaw (FL-22), Phil Crane (IL-08), and Christopher Shays (CT-04), to be able to take advantage of a favorable political environment. If they are correct, then they would not need to win virtually all of the handful of the most-competitive contests. Still, since 1998, only 16 incumbents (five Democrats and 11 Republicans) have lost in November.

Finally, regarding the sound and fury over whether the DCCC is really "supporting" Ginny Schrader or not, I've said my piece in the comments here. The last word on this belongs to Jerome.

The 2006 MLB All-Star Game will be in Pittsburgh, and you know what that means: It's time to play the Economic Impact Game!

Pittsburgh should get a desperately needed image boost from baseball's All-Star Game in two years, but it's not likely to get much help on its bottom line, economists say.

Last week's All-Star weekend was supposed to generate $85.6 million for Houston's economy and the 2005 events is supposed to produce $50 million for Detroit.

Estimates were not available for Pittsburgh yesterday, but with the city currently on track for a projected $78 million budget deficit in 2006, city officials will surely trumpet windfalls they can get.

In Detroit and Houston, the estimated numbers for out-of-town visitors were 30,000 to 67,000, respectively.

[...]

But many economics experts who study the intersection of commerce and sports have found the sky-high expectations rarely, if ever, pay off.

Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, studied labor statistics from 23 All-Star games from 1973 to 1997 and found actual job growth lagged behind projected growth in every case. Games in Montreal and Toronto were omitted.

In a study of county sales taxes at All-Star sites, in Oakland, Anaheim and San Diego, Calif., he showed quarterly tax collections dropped in each case.

According to Matheson, the sales tax drop shows that "mega-events" such as All-Star games can crowd out other possible city visitors: Somebody who otherwise might have booked a convention or conference that weekend in July will pick another date, to avoid the crowding.

Another theory is that visitors who would go to a city anyway that summer to see the sights pick All-Star weekend for something extra to do.

"There might be identical people going to different things," said Dennis Coates, an economics professor at the University of Maryland-Baltimore.

"Instead of traipsing around the riverfront or going to Carnegie Mellon, they go to a baseball game. They're still there three days, but not all of them are spent congregating in a stadium."

Look, I favor Houston's attempts to attract big sporting events, conventions, stuff that brings in visitors. As I said before, I think most people who come here have pretty low expectations, and most of them return home having had those expectations greatly exceeded. Whatever economic impact we may get - and please note, my main gripe here is that all we ever get are a bunch of blue sky numbers pulled from someone's back pocket - having people come to Houston and see for themselves that it's not such a bad place after all is worthwhile. All I want is a little perspective.

Via David, who like me will not be attending his city's All Star Game.

Following up to this post, Rob Booth points me to the FEC search page, which has some more up-to-date info right now than Open Secrets does. A few highlights:

From CD01, Max Sandlin has $727K on hand. No info as yet for Louie Gohmert.

From CD02, Ted Poe has $336K. No info as yet for Nick Lampson.

From CD17, Chet Edwards has $1.2 million on hand, while Arlene Wohlgemuth has $405K.

In CD19, Randy Neugebauer leads Charlie Stenholm by $1.05 million to $739K.

Finally, the DMN article was accurate in noting that Pete Sessions has $2.58 million to Martin Frost's $1.65 million. Both candidates there appear to have already spent a ton of dough.

There are some other interesting tidbits and a few blast-from-the-past names (Greg Laughlin? Steve Stockman??) who apparently haven't cleared out some old campaign debt. Just pick Texas and US House to see the full list, which ought to hold you off until Open Secrets updates.

UPDATE: According to this article, Gohmert has about $372K on hand. Via the Sandlin Campaign Blog.

Time for another Texas Tuesday, this time featuring Harris County's own Jim Dougherty. He's running against the notorious Martha "No Thong" Wong in SD 134, and he should have a decent shot of making a race out of it. Greg Wythe brings you some good analysis of the district and Dougherty's prospects, and a Q&A with Dougherty. Check it out, and as always, if you like what you see, please give him a hand.

The Bonassus notes that the newly-opened Presidents Park, which features the Giant Presidential Heads of artist David Adickes, is doing just fine, thank you very much.

The park has drawn more than 20,000 visitors since March 1, [Everette H. Newman III, Adickes' co-owner of the park] said. That's less than a tenth of what Colonial Williamsburg attracts but just fine for a new business, Newman said.

There is little disagreement that the busts are impressive. Adickes spent five years making them, with some presidents presenting more of a challenge than others. Gerald R. Ford's features were hard to pin down, as was Bill Clinton's hairstyle, he said. George H.W. Bush, who once posed for Adickes, was his favorite. The busts each took about six weeks to complete.

There's space for eight more busts, and Adickes said he will be ready this fall if Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) wins the presidency. Kerry's face would be easy to render because it is long and craggy, he said.

To Newman's delight, most visitors don't find the enormous heads the least bit tacky. Comments on exit surveys have been more than 90 percent glowing, he said. And the park has won over some of its original doubters -- sort of.

"We are a nation that is sorely in need of more aggressive enlightenment on our own nation's history, and to the extent Presidents Park helps do that, we certainly commend them for it," said Tim Andrews, spokesman for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Or as Walter C. Zaremba, a member of the York County Board of Supervisors, said: "There is resigned acceptance of it."

Visiting on a recent day, Naleen Cordle of Blackstone, Va., called the park "moving" and chalked up opposition to the "snooty-patootie" attitude of Williamsburg residents.

"They're men that . . . led our country into the future," she said of the presidents. "They were larger than life."

As with the Super Bowl, visitors who came in for the MLB All Star Game left with a positive impression of Houston.

Out-of-towners here for the All-Star Game last week had an overwhelmingly positive experience, according to a new poll released by the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The survey, commissioned by the the bureau and administered randomly to hotel guests, shows the city exceeded most tourists' expectations and suggests progress in the city's effort to develop a more attractive image.

Still, despite generally positive feedback from most of the 744 respondents, about 60 percent said they were uncertain if they would return to the Space City for a pleasure or leisure trip.

City officials remain pleased with the results.

"Whatever money that the (government) invested in these two events was well worth it because we made a very strong and positive impression on over a quarter million people," said Jordy Tollett, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Those people now have a positive image of Houston, and that will help with attracting corporate relocation, tourism, cruise lines and conventions. We hit a home run."

When asked what aspect of the city's image stood out, respondents mostly associated Houston with sports, 36 percent, and friendliness, 32 percent.

Other statistics showed that nearly 95 percent of those surveyed were very or somewhat satisfied with their ability to get to All-Star events via available transportation.

Say goodbye to Jus' Stuff, Linda Lay's former resale shop. No story, but this picture is currently on the front page at chron.com:

Caption:

Movers carry furniture today out of Jus' Stuff, the resale shop opened last year by former Enron CEO Ken Lay's wife Linda at 1302 W. Gray. The Chronicle reported earlier this month that an offer had been made on the building. Linda Lay opened Jus' Stuff to sell furniture owned by the couple and their friends.

I think we can file this under Bad Career Moves.

The firing of two "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" stars in a salary dispute was fair and intended to help the TV industry draw the fiscal line, CBS chief Les Moonves said Sunday.

Actors Jorja Fox and George Eads, who play investigators Sara Sidle and Nick Stokes on the hit CBS crime drama, were dumped last week when they failed to report for work on the upcoming season, he said.

"There comes a point where we feel a contract is a contract. ... We all have to look out for the future of the network television business," he said.

Translation: "You think we won't be able to find young hotties willing to wield cotton swabs and squint at carpet fibers for half the price?"

Oh, and Reiko Aylesworth, formerly of 24, will join CSI next season, in an apparently unrelated but well-timed announcement. Jack Bauer will be the only regular 24 character who'll be back next season, and he won't be with CTU any more. I know it's gone downhill since the first season, but I'll still get a season pass for it on my TiVo.

The Chron tut-tuts Rick Perry for giving a $40K/year job to a lobbyist's wife. Any more emotion on their part and I might actually be able to detect a pulse.

Elsewhere on the Patronage Patrol, here's a nice parting gift for Gregg Phillips.

Gregg Phillips and Larry Temple worked together in the mid-1990s in a massive and largely unsuccessful attempt to downsize Mississippi's human services agency. Then last year both landed prime Texas government jobs: Phillips as the No. 2 man at the Health and Human Services Commission overseeing the downsizing and privatization of state welfare programs; Temple as the executive director of the Texas Workforce Commission, the state's unemployment agency.

Now there are questions about whether Temple steered a $670,270 state contract to a company that Phillips founded. That company still employs Phillips' wife and is run by a woman whom Temple describes as an old "family friend."

Temple and Phillips denied any wrongdoing involving the contract. Temple blamed a disgruntled agency employee for prompting an internal investigation, which he said cleared him of any improper activity.

"I had a secretary who, it came to my attention, had made some negative comments relative to me," Temple said.

The Morning News has an unfortunately useless article about how the various Congressional candidates are doing in their fundraising for this year. It notes that there's a lot of money being raised, and that three Dems - Max Sandlin, Nick Lampson, and Chet Edwards - are leading their Republican rivals in cash on hand, then gives no details about any of them. Thankfully, with Open Secrets, it's easy to fill in where mass media fails, though I'm puzzled by the discrepancy between the DMN's claim that Pete Sessions has $2.6 million banked to Martin Frost's $1.6 mil, and Open Secrets' report that Frost is leading $1.9 million to $1.7 million. Someone's data are out of date.

Speaking of Max Sandlin, here's some more news about his campaign. Via Free State Standard.

UPDATE: Rob notes in the comments that Open Secrets' data is not necessarily up to date. Guess I'll need to check back again in a few days.

Joanne Webb, the Felonious Sex Toy Selling Housewife of Cleburne, Texas, has had all charges dropped against her.

A woman who received nationwide attention when she was arrested for selling two sex toys to undercover police officers posing as a couple is no longer charged with violating the state's obscenity law.

The case against Joanne Webb was dismissed by a judge, Johnson County Attorney Bill Moore said Friday in a statement. He said he asked the judge for the dismissal to prevent wasting county resources, but he didn't give a date for the dismissal.

No one answered the phone at Moore's office Saturday.

Webb, a former fifth-grade teacher, started selling erotic toys and other adult products as a Passion Parties Inc. consultant in June 2003. She hosts what she calls Tupperware-type parties for suburban housewives who feel more comfortable buying marital aids in a private home than at an adult bookstore or on the Internet.

Webb was arrested Nov. 13, about a month after the officers approached her at her husband's business in Burleson, about 10 miles south of Fort Worth, and bought two products. She had faced up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine, if convicted.

Webb's attorney, BeAnn Sisemore, said she and her client were pleased.

"We knew that it was a possibility, but we weren't contacted," she told the Cleburne Times-Review for its Sunday edition.

Webb learned from a reporter that the charges had been dropped.

Moore said a pending federal lawsuit filed by Sisemore would determine the constitutionality of the state obscenity statute Webb was accused of violating.

The former elementary school teacher, a mother of three, called the dismissal by Johnson County "the wisest action they could have made."

"The fact that they arrested me in the first place shocked me," Ms. Webb said. "As far as my family and I were concerned, jail was a possibility. This is a cloud that has been hanging over us for the last eight months. We finally feel like we can breathe again."

[...]

Despite the charge, she said, she never stopped promoting the Tupperware-style parties, though she stopped staging them in Johnson County. And she has no plans to stop now.

With the charges dropped, Ms. Webb vowed to continue fighting to repeal an obscenity law she described as outdated and selectively enforced. She plans to join a federal lawsuit seeking to declare the law unconstitutional. She had not been allowed to participate in the lawsuit while her case was pending.

"My personal battle has been won, but the battle to attack this law is just beginning," she said.

Webb's attorney, BeAnn Sisemore, said she and her client were pleased with the dismissal.

"We knew that it was a possibility, but we weren't contacted," she told the Cleburne Times-Review for its Sunday edition.

[...]

Moore said a pending federal lawsuit filed by Sisemore would determine the constitutionality of the state obscenity statute Webb was accused of violating.

According to the state's obscenity code, an obscene device is a simulated sexual organ or an item designed to stimulate the genitals. Adult stores get around the law by posting signs that say "sold only as novelties."

Webb is not named in the lawsuit, but she may join it as soon as next week, Sisemore said.

The dismissal of the misdemeanor charge is "a victory, but absolutely it's not the end of the fight," Sisemore said. "Now that real fight can begin."

Damn. I'm quite fond of the farmers' market, and I hope it can bounce back from this. Tiffany and I were driving home from a wedding shower in Kingwood yesterday (our first trip anywhere without Olivia - Tiffany's mom babysat for us) and had a good look at the smoke from this blaze. It was so dark and thick that Tiffany thought hydrocarbons had to be involved. That may be the case if this was arson, as they think it might have been. Here's a picture of the remnants.

John Edwards was back in Houston last week raising money. That's unfortunately probably the last we'll see of the Kerry campaign, given that it'll be on public funds starting next week.

Joe Conanson looks at the funding behind that anti-Kerry "Swift Boat Veterans" group and finds - surprise! - it's chock full of familiar GOP benefactors, including the current champion of Texas Republican giving, Bob "no relation to Rick" Perry. Funny how that never seems to get mentioned in press coverage of that group's efforts, though.

I've got to agree with Byron - this Chron column by CP Houston is on the short list of dumbest things anyone at that paper has ever written. Sadly, that's really saying something.

Some various bits of Tom DeLay-related news from the past few days...

Taking On Tom DeLay point to this Morning News article in which some charges against The Hammer from 1998 are revisited.

This week, DeLay opponents latched onto the case of Peter Cloeren, who owns a plastics company in Orange, Texas.

In 1996, Mr. Cloeren, a self-described conservative Republican, had given as much as federal law allowed to East Texas congressional candidate Brian Babin, a Woodville dentist. Then, one day that summer he sat next to Mr. DeLay at a Babin luncheon.

In an affidavit he gave House investigators two years later, Mr. Cloeren said he was frustrated that he couldn't do more for Dr. Babin. According to the affidavit, Mr. DeLay, then majority whip, replied that "it would not be a problem for him to find, in his words, 'additional vehicles,' " and Mr. DeLay told an aide to provide "details of how to funnel additional moneys" to the Babin campaign.

Within months, federal records show, Mr. Cloeren and his wife gave tens of thousands of dollars to out-of-state congressional campaigns and groups. Donors to some of those groups later assisted the Babin campaign.

In 1998, Mr. Cloeren pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of federal campaign law, admitting that he got employees to donate $37,000 in their names to Dr. Babin and reimbursed them. A Beaumont federal court fined him and his company $400,000. Mr. DeLay was not implicated.

Two months later, Mr. Cloeren filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission accusing Mr. DeLay of luring him into the alleged donation scheme. In July 1999, the FEC cleared Mr. DeLay, noting Mr. Cloeren hadn't reimbursed anyone, and his claims lacked corroboration.

Democrats on the House Government Reform Committee tried to force an investigation in 1998. When Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., refused, they sent their own investigators to obtain Mr. Cloeren's affidavit.

"He said there's ways to get money into the Babin campaign," Mr. Cloeren said by phone this week. "He said his staff would take care of it."

DeLay aides dispute Mr. Cloeren's account. They note that the FEC cleared Mr. DeLay, while Mr. Cloeren has confessed to violating campaign law.

"I find it dubious that this guy's being treated like an innocent lamb and my boss is being treated like public enemy No. 1," said DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella.

Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, a campaign watchdog group, was the FEC general counsel who oversaw the Cloeren case and recommended clearing Mr. DeLay in 1999.

He said that even if Mr. DeLay suggested the scheme Mr. Cloeren described – and Mr. Cloeren provided the only testimony to that effect – conspiracy isn't covered by civil laws the FEC enforces.

Still, Mr. Noble said, "He's one of those people who pushes the envelope and plays on the edges."

Mr. Bell said he'll call the Cloeren incident to the ethics committee's attention. "Mr. DeLay continues to try to distance himself from all this nefarious activity, but here he was the instructor for Mr. Cloeren on how to get around the campaign finance laws."

Publicly, Republican lawmakers have explained their lack of a response by dismissing Bell's 187-page complaint as "frivolous" and a symptom of Democrats' alleged inability to craft a substantive agenda.

But privately, many GOP Members and aides said they have reached a strategic conclusion: If there's an ethics war, they can't win.

Elsewhere, this AP story gets quotes from various campaign watchdog types about those Enron emails:

The e-mails "really do pull the curtain back and give you a view of how it's done," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political contributions and spending.

[...]

"The e-mails are an indication of what goes on behind closed doors," said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, an ethics watchdog group that has filed suits over political fund-raising.

Both Democrats and Republicans, he said, "engage in a shell game that from outside may look at times technically legal, but when you get these communications on contributions solicited for the campaign, their technical arguments fall apart."

In an e-mail from May 31, 2001, Enron lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson discuss a $50,000 contribution solicited by Republican organizations for a dinner saluting President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

"With the assistance of Congressman Tom DeLay we were able to apply our previously contributed soft money toward this dinner. Consequently, we will be credited as giving $250,000 to this event, even though we are being asked to give only $50,000 in new soft money," according to the e-mail sent to Enron's now ex-chairman, Kenneth Lay, and a second executive.

[...]

The e-mails show "pretty clearly corporations were being asked for contributions by members of Congress who held the fate of legislation important to corporations in their hands," said Trevor Potter, president and general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, a campaign finance monitoring group.

"There's always a risk this will creep back into the system, and politicians will again try to raise it. These e-mails point out the dangers of that to an ethical form of government," said Potter, a former member of the Federal Elections Commission, which regulates political fund raising and spending.

Just as Enron wanted credit for its contribution, Republican lawmakers vied for credit in raising the money, e-mails show.

Bringing in lots of political money helps raise a politician's stature in the party, said Edwin Bender, executive director of the Institute on Money in State Politics, based in Helena, Mont.

The Enron lobbyists said in the e-mail they would split credit for $100,000 of the contribution among DeLay; former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas; Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who is now chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La.

The lobbyists said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, "has requested that Enron give her some of the credit" for the other $100,000 in the contribution.

And finally, a brief update on the possibility of outside counsel getting involved in the ethics complaint.

The chairman of the House ethics panel probing a complaint against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says it is too early to tell whether an outside counsel should take over the investigation of the Sugar Land Republican.

"I have never been in favor of an outside counsel unless there's an overwhelming reason to do so. But so far, we are not at the stage of knowing if there's an overwhelming reason," said committee Chairman Joel Hefley, R-Colo.

Two government watchdog groups, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Common Cause, argue that DeLay's power and political influence over his party members make it difficult for them to investigate him.

UPDATE: And a good op-ed from Longview, via The Stakeholder.

UPDATE: And another op-ed, this one from Amarillo.

If U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, wants to counter claims by two watchdog groups that he is guilty of misusing campaign donations, then he should push for an independent investigation. DeLay is under fire for allegedly trading donations for favors. The House Ethics Committee is considering an investigation. However, four members of the committee have received donations from DeLay, which the watchdog groups claim tarnish the committee's legitimacy. DeLay, nicknamed "The Hammer" for his rough and tough political style, can drop the hammer on his opponents by supporting an independent investigation, which is nothing new in Washington. If the claims are unfounded, as DeLay's camp suggests, what better way to nail his detractors?

Nice article about the Henry family, which owns and operates the Schlitterbahn. I'm really excited about the new park opening in Galveston, though of course I plan to continue making an annual pilgrimage or two to the original in New Braunfels. This bit is very intriguing:

"South Padre is a small park," says Schlitterbahn's Jeff Henry. "It has our latest technology, Transportainment, a deep-flow river. It's the most significant technology ever to hit the industry. It's the Comal River built man-made. We pump the water up, and it runs down a channel that re-creates a natural river."

He hopes Transportainment will eventually eliminate long lines in water parks: Guests will float and enjoy themselves as they come up to each ride.

Schlitterbahn in Galveston is a 26-acre, $30 million park that Jeff Henry has been designing for several years. The park will be on city-owned property that was once part of Scholes International Airport, next to Moody Gardens and the Lone Star Flight Museum.

"Houston being the nation's fourth-largest city, there's more than enough market in that area to fill that park every single day," he says.

"Galveston is going to be an incredible park. I'm in the final stages of schematic design. That park will embody many of the things the New Braunfels and South Padre parks have, but it's going to be different from both parks. We hope people will recognize the Schlitterbahn mark and how different each is, and spend time in all three of them."

Over the years, Jeff Henry gained a reputation as a water-park innovator. The park developed, among other things, a specially coated soft surface that now covers not only many of the rides in Schlitterbahn, protecting guests from injuries such as skin scrapes and impact blows, but other parks all over the world. He helped develop the Boogie Bahn surfing ride and uphill water thrill rides such as Master Blaster (both widely copied) and the Transportainment river system that he hopes will eliminate long ride waits in the family's new parks by 2010.

Memo to self: set radio button for 650 AM.

Houston listeners will get a chance to hear for themselves Monday, when Stern's show debuts on KIKK-AM (650) during morning drive time. It will mark the first time Stern's show has aired in Houston.

The station has dumped business news for a "hot talk" format with Stern as its centerpiece. He will appear from 6 to 11 a.m. weekdays on the station, which has dubbed itself "KIKK-A** Talk."

"It's exciting to give Houston another programming alternative," said Bill Van Rysdam, director of programming for KIKK and KILT-AM (610), both owned by Infinity Broadcasting.

"We understand that it's not everybody's tastes, but that's OK."

This cracked me up:

Stern's show does well in Dallas but flopped in Austin and New Orleans, where it was regularly beaten by Walton & Johnson. The duo is heard here weekday mornings on KLOL-FM (101.1).

"In spite of his tens of millions of dollars in free PR and his nationwide prime-time cable exposure nightly on E! TV, Stern continues to have a dismal record in the face of real competition," John Walton wrote the Chronicle in an e-mail message.

UPDATE: Say what you want about Stern, his show didn't break for a commercial once during my 15-minute drive to work. I can't recall any other "morning show" in Houston ever doing that.

I had no idea there were this many organized tours of Houston.

FRENCH travelers with one-day layovers in Houston typically have low expectations of the city, noted Lucette Rieger, an independent tour guide.

"They've heard there's not much here," she said.

But after she shows them the cavernous downtown view from the 60th floor of Chase Tower, the Theater District, Rice University's campus, the Menil Museum, the oak-lined North and South boulevards, the Water Wall and the Beer Can House, she says that they'll kiss her on the cheek and say "It's a wonderful city: Clean, green and lots to do."

[...]

Houston is not considered a tourist mecca but does have a lot to offer, enough to allow scores of independent tour guides to carve out their own niche of treasures.

For instance, guide Gary White has a specialty in Civil War battlefields and cemeteries, while Melissa Dixon focuses on Fort Bend County history. Richard Cook knows oil-field history, and Mike Kees is an expert on sports venues. Rieger speaks French and Turkish.

And outside the city limits, Leslie Tate of Adventures 2000 Plus offers swamp and river tours.

Most of them also give standardized tours of local attractions.

There are no city licensing requirements to be a tour guide.

The nonprofit Professional Tour Guide Association of Houston, with more than 30 members, gives local guides an opportunity to network and provides educational and certification programs.

Cow in police custody linked to headless chicken case.

It's a cement cow, and a 13-foot-tall mascot of a place called Joe's Gizzard City. All I can say is that it's nice to see a story that's worthy of the headline.

Via Michael, who claims this is his second-favorite headline ever, behind the NY Post's unforgettable "HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR". I'd have to put it in third place for me - in the fall of 1984, the San Antonio Express News ran a story about the Republican national convention that was headed "HOSPITALITY ORGY LEAVES DALLAS LIMP". I've always thought that explained a lot about Texas' second-largest city.

A blog called Preemptive Karma claims to be getting "good vibes" for Chet Edwards and Martin Frost regarding poll numbers to be released early next week. I can't vouch for any of this information, but I'll be watching for any indications of such a thing. Stay tuned.

Good riddance, if you ask me.

Deputy Commissioner of Health and Human Services Gregg Phillips, a lightning rod for critics of the state's massive social services overhaul, said Friday he is resigning.

"I didn't anticipate this effort on my part would be a long-term deal," said Phillips, who has discussed possibly resigning from the state's No. 2 health post since last December.

Since his arrival at the commission in March 2003, Phillips has been intimately involved in the shaping and execution of House Bill 2292, a dramatic overhaul and consolidation of 12 state social services agencies into five.

His resignation is effective Sept. 3.

Phillips said he had no immediate plans and that a lingering health issue had influenced his decision. He did not wish to elaborate on the health issue, however.

The Texas Democratic Party, meanwhile, issued a statement calling the resignation "forced" and tying Phillips to a controversy involving HHSC's $20 million in overpayments to Clarendon National Insurance Co.

Clarendon manages the Children's Health Insurance Program in rural Texas.

The statement called the resignation an "effort by Gov. Rick Perry and his staff to limit the political damage by tossing a faceless bureaucrat to the wolves."

Perry spokesman Robert Black said the resignation was not forced and had nothing to do with the CHIP controversy.

"I don't know why he resigned," Black said, adding Perry has called the CHIP controversy "inexcusable" and is seeking two investigations that could result in refunds to the state.

Phillips also denied his resignation was related to CHIP or any other state contracting issue and added that he had no intention of working for any of the companies that have contracts with HHSC as part of a sweeping privatization of state government services.

He also said he will not return to his old job heading a company called Enterject, which has been awarded contracts from the Texas Workforce Commission.

Almost all of the Tulia defendents received a share of the settlement yesterday in their lawsuit against the counties involved in the drug sting that unjustly sent them to prison. They also received some financial planning help, and an excellent piece of advice.

All but four of the 46 people arrested by a Panhandle narcotics task force solely on the word of one undercover agent received their pre-tax portion Friday of the settlement with Amarillo and 26 counties.

Three of the former defendants, nearly all of whom are black, are still in prison because the drug arrest violated their parole. Their money went into a trust account.

The fourth died before the filing of the civil lawsuit claiming the arrests were racially motivated.

[...]

To steer her clients away from future trouble, Vanita Gupta of the NAACP Legal and Educational Defense Fund hosted a financial seminar in Tulia days before the checks were delivered.

Sitting in a meeting room in the Swisher County Memorial Building bearing the last name of two former local sheriffs, about two dozen people got a crash course in money management from a New York-based venture capitalist.

Nine hours stretched over two days, however, is not enough time to teach more than the basics to the few who had never opened a bank account, others in need of general equivalency diplomas and several without jobs or chances of getting one.

But their teacher, Melissa Bradley, a Soros Justice Fellow at the Open Society Institute, refused to accept a lack of formal financial education as an excuse to squander the settlement.

"There is no reason you should not have more money a year from Friday than you do on Friday," she told them. " ... You have the opportunity, if you put in the time, if you put in the effort, to make this money grow."

That will be a self-motivated enterprise since there's little help in the community where many of them grew up and still live.

Tulia has been a town of just 5,000 people since 1970.

The library has several outdated financial planning books on its shelves, including a tax preparation guide from 1995. Three banks serve the town, and the personal banker at one has not completed college.

And many residents expect the worst of the former defendants.

Although no white Tulia residents agreed to be quoted, all who commented believe most of the Tulia 46 sell drugs despite Chapman's ruling that no evidence supported the accusations.

They also predicted every cent of the money received Friday will be gone in a year.

[...]

Willie Hall plans to open a beauty supply store in Tulia. Others inquired about buying the town's defunct Dairy Queen.

Such dreams have raised the anger of neighbors who can't imagine their dusty downtown being revitalized by people who don't regularly attend one of the two dozen churches in town.

"That people can do wrong and come out of prison with a clean slate and more money than anybody else has ever had, that's not fair," says Dora Benard, a black resident who prayed on the jailhouse steps for many of the defendants.

Gupta, of the NAACP legal defense fund, warned that investing in Tulia is risky.

"By and large, folks need to think about relocating and moving to a place where the stigma of the sting is not always on their backs," she said. "It will be much harder to succeed at using this money to improve their lives as long as they live in a place where everyone else believes they are guilty people and what they are receiving is not deserved."

Some yahoo is claiming that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee missed the deadline to file for the Democratic primary in January and is thus ineligible to be on the ballot in November.

In a lawsuit filed this week, Houston businessman Tom Bazan alleges that Jackson Lee did not file in time for the March 9 Democratic primary and thus is not eligible for the Nov. 2 general election.

Jackson Lee, who represents the 18th Congressional District, denied missing the deadline.

"I physically went over there (to file)," she said Friday. "I take filing very seriously; I do it myself. There's absolutely no question that it was timely."

Jackson Lee's primary election application is dated Jan. 13, three days before the deadline.

Bazan, 50, said he has information suggesting the filing was not completed on time. He said the information will be disclosed through the legal process.

"I have copies of other documentation that leads me to believe the transaction didn't occur on Jan. 13," he said.

The law endorsing congressional redistricting extended the filing deadline to Jan. 16.

The original filing period for the primary was Dec. 3 through Jan. 2. Congressional candidates were allowed to file between Jan. 11 and 16 because of the redistricting plan, said Jennifer Waisath, spokeswoman for the Texas secretary of state's office.

Jackson Lee filed on time, said Gerry Birnberg, chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party, which accepts candidate filings.

Birnberg said he watched her fill out and sign the application three days before the deadline.

"There's just absolutely no problem," he said.

Just shy of 50,000 visits in June, making it a bit slower than May but still second-best all time. Nothing like a couple of links from Kevin Drum to send the hit counter spinning, that's for sure. July is shaping up to be slower, back to April levels, but that's OK.

So far, I've managed to keep about the same level of blogging nearly six weeks after Olivia came along (new picture, btw). She thankfully seems to have inherited her daddy's above-averge sense of mellowness, which helps. I'm sure all bets will be off when she starts teething, but hey, who am I to borrow trouble? Life is good and I'm enjoying it.

Anyway, thanks as always for dropping by and making this a fun place to be. Top referrers are beneath the More link.

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All right, so I finally gave in and took the Slate red state/blue state quiz, and it told me that "It's time to get out of the sun. You're looking a little red." I'll echo what others have said about being a blue person in a red place. What can I say? I have a good mind for remembering trivia, which enabled me to answer correctly a number of the red-identifying questions - for example, I've never watched any NASCAR, but I know what the winged 3 means just from osmosis.

One bit of tunnel vision by the quiz creator is here:

(17) What does the Eighth Commandment prohibit?
(A) stealing
(B) coveting your neighbor's wife
(C) avarice
(D) committing adultery

What would you do if you were confronted with a list of the 10 Dumbest Moments in Science Fiction Cinema? If you're smart, you'll head over to Pete's place to get the real straight skinny. Do be warned, here there be spoilers, though none that will ruin any movie-watching experience for me personally. Besides, Pete's use of a hockey analogy for time travel outweighs the risk, if you ask me. So go check it out.

Karl-T has your list of bloggers who are going to Boston. Check it out, there's surely a few there that'll be new to you.

Via the Quorum Report, Alma Allen asks the kid of question that I think needs to get asked more often.

Alma Allen (D-Houston) wanted to know one thing from her State Board of Education colleagues: If board members planned to talk the talk about no sex before marriage in high school health textbooks, how many of them had actually walked the walk?

No one rushed to answer Allen's question yesterday, but it did make her point. While every parent wants a child to abstain from sex during high school, it's not always realistic to assume every child will choose abstinence over sex, Allen said. Allen said it was time for the State Board of Education to "get real."

"Whether you did or whether you did not practice abstinence, you always want your children to abstain from sex in high school," Allen said to her colleagues. "I was very open about it. I didn't practice abstinence before marriage, and I didn't teach my children that abstinence was the only choice, but I certainly taught them a lot of other things as we rode along together in a locked-up car."

With the odds of another special session on schol finance dropping by the day, State Sen. Florence Shapiro is making one last try to get things done.

The plan would cut local school property taxes by 35 cents and replace the lost $3.5 billion with business taxes. Businesses would have the option of paying based on gross receipts, payroll or under the existing franchise tax.

Shapiro said every business in Texas would pay some tax. Only about one of every six businesses pays the current franchise tax, which generates $1.9 billion a year.

Her plan also would generate $1.5 billion for education by raising the state sales tax and motor vehicle sales tax from 6.25 percent to 6.75 percent and increase cigarette taxes by 50 cents a pack.

The bulk of the new spending would go to teacher salaries and incentives and bilingual education. Shapiro said she thinks the new spending could make a big impact in lowering the dropout rate and getting more students ready for college.

"I'm a strong proponent and advocate for an August session," Shapiro said. "If we as legislators have said education is our number one priority, time is running out, in my opinion."

Shapiro's plan is the first to emerge since May, when a special session ended without a compromise.

More in the DMN.

House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, has made it clear he does not want to deal with school finance until the 2005 legislative session.

You know, the truly beautiful thing about throwing a couple hundred thousand poor children off of the state's health insurance program is that it helps free up the cash needed to hire your buddy's wife to the vital position of state fitness promoter.

State health officials, at Gov. Rick Perry's request, created a $40,000 fitness-promotion job for the wife of a top-dollar lobbyist with close ties to the governor.

Martha "Marty" McCartt began directing Perry's physical fitness brainchild, the once-a-year Texas Round-up festival, at the Texas Department of Health on July 1, according to an employment document created Wednesday. The Houston Chronicle had requested the document from the agency the same day.

McCartt, formerly a volunteer in the fitness program at the governor's office, will now work from her Austin home 30 hours a week and get a salary, said Texas Department of Health spokesman Doug McBride.

The job, planning a 10-kilometer run and annual spring fitness festival in which Texas communities compete, was not posted or advertised as normally required for state jobs at that level, Health Department records obtained by the Chronicle show. Instead, agency officials received a waiver of that requirement from Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins, who reports directly to Perry, McBride said.

The new employee is married to J. McCartt, treasurer of a political action committee that in 2001 successfully pushed a constitutional amendment to finance highway construction through the Texas Mobility Fund. The fund, a massive highway bond program voters approved, was a Perry priority.

J. McCartt also worked as an aide to Perry when Perry was lieutenant governor. In 2003, J. McCartt was the 33rd highest paid lobbyist in Texas, with contracts worth up to $1.29 million, according to Texans for Public Justice, a liberal government watchdog group.

Meant to post this earlier - Comptroller Strayhorn is calling for an audit of the state's Child Health Insurance Program.

Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn called Monday for a federal investigation into overpayments to a Children's Health Insurance Program contractor that she said had ties to the governor's chief of staff.

"We need an independent investigation to see if there's any fraudulent or illegal activity here," she said.

Strayhorn complained that $20 million in overpayments found by a state audit last week could have prevented 17,000 children from being cut from the Children's Health Insurance Program because of budget shortfalls. Since September, 149,000 children have lost their benefits due to changes in eligibility.

Strayhorn complained of possible criminal violations in letters to the U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in San Antonio and the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington.

It was not immediately apparent whether either will act on her request.

Strayhorn is questioning separately what she called an "incestuous" relationship between Gov. Rick Perry's Chief of Staff Mike Toomey and a Clarendon National Health Insurance Co. subcontractor Toomey lobbied for.

"I am shocked and appalled by the recent finding of the Texas state auditor of abuses involving state and federal funds in managing the Children's Health Insurance Program," Strayhorn wrote, decrying the overpayments to CHIP contractor Clarendon, which served rural counties.

[...]

Strayhorn also complained that Perry's former chief of staff Mike McKinney once acted as the president of a company expected to take over the contract in September.

"I'm disturbed by with what appears to be a very incestuous relationship between Governor Perry's top men and the companies supposed to be taking care of our children," she said.

Toomey formerly worked as a lobbyist for Clarendon subcontractor USA-MCO. McKinney was the former president of the incoming contractor, Superior Health Plan.

The governor's office, however, noted Clarendon signed the contract in May 2000, before Perry was governor.

A few notes from around the Congressional campaigns...

Byron notes that Martin Frost outraised his opponent this quarter and is well on his way to meeting his overall fundraising goal. That's good news, since we all know the campaign there is going to be expensive.

Taking On Tom DeLay finds a letter to the Chron with a good question for the Majority Leader.

Morris Meyer notes Smokey Joe Barton's excuse for his little franking foulup and comments on the Texas couple that was arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts at a Bush political event in North Carolina. He's also trying to meet an ambitious fundraising goal for July - consider helping him out if you can.

Max Sandlin pays homage to Nacogdoches County, which is one of the prettier parts of East Texas in my opinion.

Chet Edwards and Arlene Wohlgemuth have agreed to a debate format. Check this out:

# Opening Statement (10 minutes):

* 5 minutes each candidate
* (Order determined by coin toss—coin toss winner can choose to open first and close first OR open second and close last )

# Audience Q&A: 42 minutes

* Questions will be from audience, written on index cards at the event, and given to the
moderator to ask
* One question per audience member limit
* All questions must be addressed to both candidates – no personalized questions.
* Each candidate gets 2 minutes to respond.
* Candidate who gave 1st opening statement responds second to first question
* Order then alternates

# Candidate Q&A: 7 minutes
(Order determined by 2nd coin toss)

* Candidate A asks Candidate B a question; question not to exceed 30 seconds
* Candidate B answers - 2 minutes
* Candidate A may rebut- 1 minute
* Alternate

# Closing (10 minutes):

* Each candidate gets 5 minutes
* The candidate who gave the second introduction gets to go last

On the national scene, some more good fundraising news as the DCCC outraised their GOP counterparts this past quarter, and are nearly even with them in cash on hand.

Want to win a free ticket to Boston? Here's a good way, also courtesy of the DCCC. I'm passing on this, since even with a free ticket I can't make it there this year (and I like to think I'm doing my part on the Road to Eleven), but don't let that stop you.

Finally, be sure to check out the new DailyKos/MyDD venture, OurCongress. I've become quite the Congressional-race junkie, so even despite this site's current lack of an RSS feed, it'll be a daily stop for me.

Seventy-five million.

Houston cleaned itself up so quickly after five days of All-Star Game festivities that when commuters arrived in downtown Wednesday morning, the city looked like it did last Wednesday — only it was $75 million richer, and Main Street smelled a little like a sewer.

The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau offered the rosy economic picture after a preliminary estimate of five days of hotel stays, dining splurges and souvenir hunting. And the city's Department of Public Works and Engineering, despite its quick removal of the rubbish, is offering no excuses for a stench of beer, party excess and manure left behind by nearly two dozen police horses.

And what's up with that smell?

Indeed, the odor is the only noticeable hint of an All-Star hangover. The question is, "How long will it last?"

"How long does it take to get over any hangover?" asked Wes Johnson, public works spokesman. "You never know. You just hope it goes away."

"Why it smells the way it does, I have no idea," Johnson said. "But it's only a matter of time before it goes away. We'll wash a little water on it and in the storm sewer. What we need is a good cleansing rain. But in the meantime, I'll send someone over there to, uh, nose around."

The end of Enron draws nearer.

Enron Corp. received court approval today to emerge from one of the most expensive bankruptcies in history.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez in New York signed off on Enron's plan to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with no notable adjustments.

[...]

The ventures that once defined Enron as a leader in energy and other markets, such as trading and broadband, are long gone. The reorganization plan aims to pay most of the more than 20,000 creditors about $12 billion of the approximately $63 billion they are owed in cash and stock in one of three new companies created under the plan from Enron's remains.

Sales are pending for two of those companies -- CrossCountry Energy Corp., which comprises Enron's whole or part interest in three domestic natural gas pipelines, and Portland General Electric, its Pacific Northwest utility. The third is Prisma Energy International Inc., a smattering of pipeline and power assets in 14 countries, mostly in Latin America.

If the sales of CrossCountry and Portland General close later this year as expected, the $11 billion will be distributed to creditors with 92 percent in cash and 8 percent in Prisma stock.

If one or both of the sales crumble, creditors will receive less cash and more stock in the multiple companies. The Enron name will disappear.

Slacktivist proposes a new TV show.

Eventually, someone from the Cartoon Network will realize that Fafnir and Giblets really ought to be made part of the lineup on Adult Swim.

This would entail getting a team of animators to create the Fafnir and Giblets animated characters, as well as, of course, animated versions of the Medium Lobster and Christopher Robin. At the very least, they could become regular guests on, say, Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

If the show became a hit, I could see them branching out to create animated versions of other blogs. Maybe a show called "Why oh why are we ruled by these idiots?" featuring a squiggle-vision version of Brad DeLong.

The Austin Chronicle took a look at the Perry impeachment talk and makes some sense of it. They summarize:

[T]he Big Push to impose casinos into Texas – under the guise, like a streetwalker in a cheerleader skirt, of funding public schools – is just not going away. Likewise, questions about growing coziness between gambling interests and state politicians will not disappear just because Perry's spokespeople say they're "sad and disappointed" about the impeachment inquiry.

Tom DeLay is disputing the allegations that Enron money went to TRMPAC as part of the grand re-redistricting scheme (see here).

DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority deposited $25,000 from Enron on Nov. 7, 2001, according to documents provided by DeLay's office Wednesday.

DeLay's office released the deposit slip to dispute a Houston Chronicle story Wednesday that said Enron money was used to help set up DeLay's Texas political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority.

The federal Securities and Exchange Commission launched its formal investigation into Enron's finances on Oct. 31, 2001.

Enron officials have declined to comment on political donations involving DeLay.

The Chronicle reported Wednesday that Enron apparently donated $50,000 to help DeLay's national PAC set up Texans for a Republican Majority. The committee helped Republicans win control of the Texas House and set the stage for DeLay's push to redraw the state's congressional districts.

The Chronicle based its report on the national PAC's filings with the Internal Revenue Service and an Enron e-mail from May 31, 2001, saying DeLay was asking for $100,000 in donations for Texas redistricting. The IRS filing showed that the PAC received $50,000 from Enron in the second half of 2001 and that it donated $50,000 in seed money to the Texas PAC.

Grella produced national PAC documents showing it received $25,000 from Enron on Aug. 2, 2001, and the second donation on Nov. 7. A $50,000 check to the Texas PAC was written on a Sun Trust Bank account on Sept. 25, 2001.

"The fact one came before and one came after the transfer, it totally undermines the premise of the story," Grella said.

Second, the timing of the deposit slips is suggestive but not conclusive by any means. It's not like ARMPAC operates on a shoestring, so there's no reason it couldn't have floated the whole 50K to TRMPAC, even though only half of that amount had been received from Enron by the transfer date of September 25. They'll have to do better than that to convince me.

In related news, CREW and Common Cause are pushing for an outside counsel to take over the House ethics complaint in light of the revelation that 80% of the Republicans on the ethics committee are on DeLay's payroll. And Rep. Chris Bell has sent a letter to the ethics committee, reproduced beneath the More link, which brings up issues that have arisen since the complaint was filed, such as Enron, Westar, and Ed Bethune's conflict of interest.

July 14, 2004

Joel Hefley, Chairman

Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

2372 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Alan B. Mollohan, Ranking Member

Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

2302 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

RE: COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST REPRESENTATIVE DELAY 6/15/04 “COMPLAINT”

Dear Chairman Hefley and Ranking Member Mollohan:

I am writing not to amend my complaint but to inform the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct that Westar Energy commissioned a report which investigated its company’s 2002 plan to influence pending federal legislation by making political donations. This plan included a $25,000 donation made to Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Westar Energy voluntarily gave the report to the Federal Election Commission, and I urge the committee to request the report compiled by Mr. Tom Jenkins of O’Connor & Hannan law firm.

In 2002, Westar Energy conducted an internal probe of the company’s finances, headed by the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton, with the assistance of consultants from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The report included allegations of corruption, sweetheart financial deals, unjust enrichment, fraud and a disinformation campaign by former Westar executive David Wittig.

After receiving the Debeviose & Plimpton report, Westar retained O’Connor & Hannan lawyer Jenkins as expert counsel to investigate the campaign finance issues raised in the initial report. Attorney Jenkins then conducted his own year-long probe into possible illegal political contributions which occurred during the tenure of former Westar executives, David Wittig and Douglas Lake.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has requested Mr. Jenkins’ report and any exhibits, attachments, or correspondence accompanying the report under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §552, et. seq. I urge the committee to request the Jenkins’ report because I believe it will provide information necessary to determine whether the committee should investigate count one of the complaint.

I also wanted to inform you of other developments which may be germane to the complaint. In the July 12, 2004 article, “DeLay’s Corporate Fundraising Investigated,” The Washington Post wrote that, “Enron's top lobbyists in Washington advised the company chairman that then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was pressing for a $100,000 contribution to his political action committee, in addition to the $250,000 the company had already pledged to the Republican Party that year.”

The article added that “DeLay requested that the new donation come from ‘a combination of corporate and personal money from Enron's executives,’ with the understanding that it would be partly spent on ‘the redistricting effort in Texas,’ said the e-mail to Kenneth L. Lay from lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson.” An email sent to Former Enron CEO Ken Lay suggests that Representative DeLay personally requested corporate money from Enron. The Post also writes that this email “is one of at least a dozen documents” that directly suggests Representative DeLay directly solicited corporate monies for Texas state Republicans which is illegal under Texas state law.

It has also been brought to our attention that Representative DeLay's counsel, Ed Bethune, was the chief lobbyist for Burlington Northern, a corporation which could be implicated in the Travis County grand jury investigation. While I realize the rules of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct do not address conflicts of interest, I believe the committee should be apprised of this potential conflict as you move forward.

Sincerely,

Chris Bell

Member of Congress

Looks like I've been suffering from the same Dreamhost permission problems that Byron, Orange Politics, and several folks in this MT support forum thread have been having problems. The fact that I can now save this post and see it on my main index means they've fixed it, even if I haven't gotten an official resonse from their tech support yet. This is all a longwinded way of saying that my absence this morning was unplanned. I did save a few draft posts, so at least I'm not totally behind the eight ball.

On a side note, I had a variation of this problem twice, and I finally fixed it once and for all here. Note that it's only an issue for BerkeleyDB users; I've switched to MySQL, so I knew that this time it wasn't my fault.

As long as we're talking about attracting people to a city's downtown, I'll mention this op-ed from Sunday by Rice prof Stephen Klineberg, who talks about why suburban Anglos are expressing more interest than before in moving back to inner Houston.

This year’s survey asked respondents how often they visited Houston’s museums or live theaters, made use of downtown restaurants or nightlife, and attended professional sporting events. Consistently and unmistakably, the Anglos in the suburbs who made more frequent use of these urban venues were more likely to be interested in moving to the city.

All three types of amenities appear to be equally powerful in luring people to city living. Combining them into one overall measure, the data indicate that considerably more than half of all the Anglos in the suburbs who often take advantage of Houston’s museums, theaters, nightlife or sporting events said they would be interested in someday moving to the city. In sharp contrast, less than a fourth of the suburban residents who make little use of these amenities thought they’d be interested in such a move.

Looks like the era of Jimyball is ending.

Astros manager Jimy Williams and his coaching staff will learn their fates at 1 p.m. today with former Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers manager Phil Garner set to become the franchise's 14th manager.

The Astros have scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. today to make it official.

"I just got fired," hitting coach Harry Spilman said this morning.

As reported by the Chronicle last week, Astros owner Drayton McLane reiterated Tuesday he will decide Williams' fate in a meeting today.

"After we get in the office, we'll all talk," McLane said. "But I have two (meetings) before that."

After McLane signed premier pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens this winter, the Astros entered the season with more excitement than anybody involved with the club could remember. The starting lineup also returned intact, but the Astros are fifth in the National League Central, 10 1/2 games behind the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals.

That said, I'm not thrilled with a retread like Phil Garner. He probably won't be any worse, but I sure don't remember him as being a creative thinker while he managed Milwaukee. Maybe he's learned, I don't know, but this feels like a sop to me.

And to be honest, for all of Jimy's eccentricities, the Astros' problem is as much one of roster construction as anything. They're too dependent on players in the decline phase of their career, and unless they take a truly critical view of their assets and liabilities, they're going to be in a real world of hurt next year. For a team that whines constantly about cash flow, they need to be a lot smarter about how they use their limited resources.

Rafe says this:

I consider the midseason firing of the manager to be the ultimate acknowledgement of failure, not just of the team on the field but of the team's entire strategy for winning.

The main thought that occurs to me as I read this article about Conroe's attempts to bring a little life to its downtown now that an archaic anti-alcohol law has been lifted is that the Conroe Chamber of Commerce had better hope it's not too late for them. Here's their strategy:

The city's initial downtown redevelopment efforts in the 1990s amounted to not much more than a campaign to lure small retail investment to empty space on courthouse square.

"We'd get a few mom-and-pop shops, but they had a hard time and, being what they were, they had no staying power," recalled [Rodney Pool, architect of the May 15 referendum that by a 2-to-1 margin lifted long-standing restrictions on most liquor sales in the southern half of Conroe and the unincorporated areas of south Montgomery County]. "After a few months, maybe longer, they'd close up."

What's being sought now are entrepreneurs with deeper pockets — hotel and restaurant chains, mainly — with the financial base and marketing know-how to make a six- to seven-figure investment pay off. He said several such investments are in the offing, but he declined to identify them just yet.

Meanwhile, Pool has been recruiting a 10-member committee to shepherd the revitalization program for city council, which sees the effort as key to Conroe's strategy to attract corporate relocations to the area.

"Companies that might relocate here are going to look at our downtown to see what the health of the city is like. If it's vibrant and attractive, that's good," said Pool. "If it's not, it could be a problem."

Now, I'm just supposing here, and I certainly could be underestimating the growth potential of that part of the county. I still wonder if enticing chain restaurants to an authentic small-town downtown is a good use of Conroe's assets. Unlike the Woodlands, which is an entirely aritificial creation, Conroe has a past to draw on. Its downtown has actual historic small-town charm. I don't understand the allure of turning it into a mini-version of the Woodlands' strip-center monolith, especially when the real thing is less than 15 minutes away. I'd think that if Conroe can make a go of it, a downtown Main Street of mom-and-pop shops would be a competitive advantage over its nearest neighbor, which doesn't have anything like it. I'd think long and hard about throwing that away.

Of course, they've already tried the mom-and-pop approach without much success so far. Maybe they need to give the smaller approach more time, maybe this is a sign that they've alread lost the economic battle to the Woodlands, I don't know. But I'd want to be really sure that the national chain approach is the best, if not only, option before I took it. There's no going back if it's wrong.

The Chron finally writes a story of its own on the DeLay/Enron revelations. Nothing new, really, but there is a new line of defense put forth by Jonathan "Caricature Assassination" Grella:

DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella said there was nothing wrong or illegal about raising money from Enron for ARMPAC. He said the money was raised before Enron's finances began unraveling in fall 2001.

"Enron was a well-respected member of the community before these revelations came to light," he said. "Hindsight is 20/20 when it comes to things like Enron."

Another attempt at misdirection is seen in this AP wire story, in which Rep. Chris Bell states that the news of Enron's donations to DeLay bolsters his ethics case against The Hammer:

Grella said the reference to redistricting in the 2001 e-mail is about Texas redistricting that year, not the 2002 round that led the state's Democratic legislators to flee to neighboring states.

The Chron editorializes against DeLay's actions today.

PAC defenders say the Texas campaign laws are vague and confusing. They're right. Neither the law nor the Texas Ethics Commission explicitly defines what PAC expenses corporate donations can pay for. However, vagueness should not be an invitation for abuse. Texas law clearly intends to keep corporations from financing political campaigns and purchasing the influence of elected officials.

DeLay recently said he has lawyers "all over the place" to make sure his actions and methods are legal. If his lawyers can certify precisely what he can and cannot do, then the laws are not that vague, after all.

However, if PACs legally can spend millions of corporate dollars to influence political campaigns -- effectively, as PAC officials have stated -- then the law is not vague, but meaningless.

Corporations do not give combined millions of dollars to political action committees unless they hope to advance their financial interests by doing so. If the contributions had no real effect and bought no advantage, they would be a waste of shareholder value.

An internal Enron e-mail suggests that DeLay solicited Enron money to be used in the redistricting effort in Texas. If the vagueness of the law allows corporate dollars into campaigns when the law's intent is to keep them out, the next Legislature has a duty to change the law. Total corporate contributions to a political action committee could be limited to $100,000 or some other arbitrary sum, or they could be banned outright, an action more than justified by the abuses of 2002.

Let's say you get called for jury duty. It happens that the person on trial once gave you money. Would you expect to get picked for that jury?

Heck, no.

You'd expect to be sent home, pronto, and for good reason.

Even if you, as an upright and fair-minded citizen, could put the financial tie completely out of your mind, how could those of us looking on, who can't get inside your head, be confident in your impartiality?

That's essentially the situation in Washington, where Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas stands accused of unethical fund-raising practices. Four of the five Republicans on the committee investigating him have received money from his political action committee.

The sums aren't huge – no more than $15,000 to any one person. But the payments illustrate how difficult it is for members of Congress – a body that exists on back-scratching and favor-swapping, sometimes in the form of hard, cold cash – to police themselves.

That difficulty is compounded many-fold when the subject of the probe is the House member with the greatest ability to reward friends and punish enemies. That's why former House ethics panels appointed outside counsels to handle investigations of former speakers Jim Wright and Newt Gingrich.

(It was Mr. Gingrich, you may recall, who held up the Democrats as the example of the effects of a single party wielding too much power. Something about "a cancer threatening the very essence of representative freedom.")

Turning the probe over to an outsider was sensible then, and it's sensible now. In fact, some scholars of congressional ethics would make such an appointment mandatory in all ethics investigations.

Without going that far, it's clear that, if ever there was a good time to bring in an impartial investigator, this is it.

Now hear this: The animated baseball known as "Scooter", which explains things like the slider ("it's like a fastball except it slides!") to children, which Fox has thrust upon an unsuspecting public, is the dumbest thing I've seen in a sports broadcast in a long time. And someone needs to slap Tim McCarver every time he mentions the accursed thing.

That is all.

UPDATE: Jeff Cooper has a diabolical thought.

UPDATE: Gadzooks. An actual professional sportswriter thought the same thing as Jeff and wrote it all down in detail.

Maybe Piazza, still smarting from the bat-tossing incident at the 2000 Subway Series, was purposely calling the wrong pitches. That was, after all, a hanging slider on an 0-2 count that Manny Ramirez deposited in the Crawford Boxes in left field.

Or, more deliciously, maybe Piazza, still not over the 2000 beaning that sent him to the hospital, was tipping the pitches to enemy hitters. Alfonso Soriano, Clemens' former Yankees teammate, sure looked ready for that first-pitch split he ripped for a three-run homer.

It would be easy enough to do. Piazza wouldn't even have to say a word, lest home-plate umpire Ed Montague blow his cover.

Instead, with former Mets teammates Matt Lawton and Kenny Rogers on the AL side, all Piazza needed to do was send word how things would be done. Maybe he'd pound his mitt once for a fastball and twice for something off speed.

Maybe he'd set his foot down a little harder when shifting either out or in, to give away location.

Couple of useful Kos diary entries for you here, tracking who got DeLay PAC money, and who's giving the money. Check it out.

Buried deep within this survey of Major League Baseball players on topics such as steroids and competitive imbalance is this nugget:

A strong majority of players, 353 to 73, said having a gay teammate wouldn't bother them. "I'm sure I've had one at some point," former Met and Yankee Robin Ventura said.

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) has filed an FOIA request with the FEC to find out more about Westar's illegal campaign contributions. The Stakeholder was first to note this yesterday afternoon. Still no original coverage in the Chron, by the way, though they do reprint a WaPo editorial about the Kenny Boy indictment.

Elsewhere on the DeLay front, there's a new Bacardi bill development. Turns out that a couple of expert witnesses who have testified for the bill DeLay favors that would give Bacardi exclusive rights to the Havana Club rum label have financial ties to Bacardi that they failed to disclose before testifying.

Jaime Suchlicki, a University of Miami professor, sought to counter claims that the bill would jeopardize other trademarks in a May 3 letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).

Suchlicki said he is aware of claims “that the Castro regime may retaliate against U.S. products regarding this law.” But, he added: “As an expert in Cuban history, policies and political framework, and Director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies [ICCAS] at the University of Miami, I assure you it is not in Fidel Castro’s best interest to retaliate nor does he have any rights to retaliate.”

What Suchlicki does not disclose in his letter is that his full title is “Emilio Bacardi Moreau professor of International Studies” and that ICCAS is housed at the “Casa Bacardi” at the University of Miami. The Bacardi Family Foundation gave $1 million for the construction of Casa Bacardi and the Bacardi logo is etched into the building’s glass doors.

Suchlicki’s wife, Joy Suchlicki, works as assistant marketing manager for DiSaronno Amaretto, a subsidiary of Bacardi-Martini.

Jaime Suchlicki could not be reached for comment.

In a June 21 letter to the Senate and House Judiciary committees, Bruce Lehman, who headed the PTO during the Clinton administration, strongly supported the Bacardi bills.

Lehman, scheduled to testify at today’s hearing as a majority witness, currently serves on the board of directors of the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), but said in his letter that the views expressed are his own and “do not necessarily represent the Board of Directors.”

The IIPI on its website displays a Bacardi logo, says that the company “supported the Institute” and links to Bacardi’s corporate website.

In an interview, Lehman reiterated that the views in his letter and the ones he will express at today’s hearing are his personal views, which he has held for a long time.

Paul Krugman gives a synopsis today of the DeLay-Enron emails. No new revelations, but as the Chron prints the occasional Krugman column, we may get to see this in DeLay's home paper.

Finally, Chris Bell was scheduled to speak about his ethics complaint against DeLay today at the Harris County Democratic Party's monthly Brown Bag Lunch, but he's been called back to DC. Richard Morrison will be speaking in his place. Steve Bates will be attending a similar event tonight, at which Morrison appears to be pinch hitting again. Please let us know how it goes, Steve!

UPDATE: Via TBogg via Jack O'Toole, this priceless quote from DeLay spokesperson Jonathan Grella:

“The last sign of a defeated and intellectually bankrupt party is a hate-filled strategy of caricature assassination,” said Jonathan Grella, a DeLay spokesman.

So I watched USA's The 4400 last night (three cheers for TiVo!), and I liked it. It's a good concept - 4400 people who have been abducted by aliens since 1946 have suddenly been returned to Earth. None of them have aged, none of them have any memory of what happened, and some of them are starting to display strange powers - precognition, an ability to heal, and an ominous ability to create a mini local earthquake among them. The gimmick hasn't gotten in the way of the story yet, and I'm interested in the characters. This may wind up as a six-hour miniseries, and it may wind up getting renewed, so it's not even that much of an up-front investment of my time.

The show has gotten some good reviews so far, and it featured the first sighting in many years that I can recall of Michael Moriarty since he quit being Ben Stone on Law and Order. There's not a lot worth watching this summer, but between this and The Prisoner on BBC America, there's a little something. Give it a look.

Today's featured candidate on Texas Tuesdays is Jeanette Popp, a woman who became politically active after the wrong men were convicted of her daughter's murder. If that makes her sound like an unconventional candidate, she is. Read her story and see for yourself what an extraordinary person she is. We'll have an interview with her up later today. If you like what you see about Jeanette Popp, please consider helping her out.

UPDATE: And the interview is up.

You want evidence of ticket-splitting, here it is.

LUBBOCK – Cotton farmer Don Langston has voted Republican for more than three decades, but this year his livelihood will steer his congressional vote.

Mr. Langston is among West Texas Republicans who say they will cross party lines and vote for Democratic Rep. Charlie Stenholm of Abilene, the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee.

"If we lose Charlie, we've lost all our presence on the ag committee," said Mr. Langston, 64, who farms 1,300 acres in Lubbock and Lamb counties. "The farm economy is the only thing that keeps us going out here."

[...]

Support for Mr. Stenholm appeared to be shrinking in his old district as it became increasingly Republican. He was re-elected by a 4 percentage point margin in 2002, his lowest ever.

Mr. Langston and dozens of traditionally Republican farmers and businessmen say they're behind Mr. Stenholm because of his experience. Mr. Stenholm has more than 23 years experience on agriculture issues and worked on several farm bills with Mr. Combest, who was chairman of the House Agriculture Committee when he resigned.

It's not so unreasonable for GOP farmers to support Mr. Stenholm, said Brian Gerber, an assistant professor of political science at Texas Tech University.

"I think that gives a chance a Democrat wouldn't normally have," he said. "It's not that they'd be voting for a liberal Democrat, so ideologically he's very much in line with a big chunk of the district."

[...]

Many Republicans who say they are Stenholm backers said they were angry about the way state GOP leaders handled redistricting. Democrats in the state Legislature fled the state twice to avoid votes during three special sessions.

"To lose Larry [Combest] and turn around and have the GOP deliberately get rid of Stenholm, that's the problem," Mr. Langston said. "We sure feel like we're getting the short end of the stick."

Regardless of who wins, Mr. Bearden said he's concerned about the future.

"I think either way, whether [Rep. Randy Neugebauer] wins or Charlie wins, West Texas loses because we're going to lose one seat on the House Ag Committee, and we're going to lose one vote for rural Texas," he said.

Taking On Tom DeLay notes that one of DeLay's defense attorneys may be needed as a witness in the TRMPAC investigation. Quoting from a Roll Call article:

Former Rep. Ed Bethune (R-Ark.), now a partner at the law firm Bracewell & Patterson, was recently hired by DeLay to defend against a House ethics complaint filed by Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas.)

Bethune began serving as a registered lobbyist for the Burlington Northern Sante Fe Corp., a Texas-based railroad company in May 2001. Burlington Northern paid Bracewell & Patterson $720,000 for its lobbying work between 2001 and Dec. 31, 2003, according to federal records. It is unclear whether he or his firm is still doing any work for the railroad.

[...]

Both Bethune and a spokesman for DeLay rejected the notion that Bethune was in any way compromised. DeLay plans to keep Bethune as his ethics lawyer, the spokesman added.

Burlington Northern may find itself under scrutiny during a criminal investigation by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle. Earle is looking into the activities of Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC), a group founded by DeLay in September 2001.

Earle is looking into whether TRMPAC and other pro-GOP groups such as the Texas Association of Business violated Texas law by illegally steering millions of dollars in corporate contributions into Lone Star State legislative races in the months leading up to the 2002 elections. The use of corporate donations for political campaigns is illegal under Texas law.

Burlington Northern donated $26,000 to TRMPAC in October 2002, according to reports filed by the group with the IRS.

Earle has already subpoenaed a number of individuals with close ties to DeLay to appear before a grand jury in Austin. These include Jim Ellis, a top DeLay fundraiser, and DeLay's daughter, Danielle DeLay Ferro, who serves as his campaign manager and as a TRMPAC consultant. DeLay himself has not been subpoenaed.

Bell, who filed his ethics complaint against DeLay last month, has more recently raised concerns about the Texas Republican's decision to retain Bethune, citing his ties to Burlington Northern.

In his ethics filing, Bell alleged that DeLay, among other things, "used TRMPAC to illegally funnel corporate money to state races," which would be a felony under Texas law. "Rep. DeLay engaged in this pattern of illegal conduct for the purpose of stealing control of the state House for the Republicans so he could then push through a radical redistricting plan designed to eliminate Texas Democratic seat in the United States Congress."

Noting that Earle is continuing his criminal probe of TRMPAC, Bell said that if the ethics committee takes up his complaint and decides to investigate DeLay and TRMPAC as well, then Bethune could find himself in an untenable position. Bethune might find himself representing the Majority Leader during an ethics probe in which another client of his firm, Burlington Northern, could be drawn into.

If the two parties' legal interests diverge at some point, Bethune or his firm could be placed into a conflict of interest.

In an interview, Bell said he also wants to know if Bethune had any role in the decision by Burlington Northern officials to donate to TRMPAC in the first place.

"Based on what we laid out [in the complaint] ... I think the ethics committee needs to be made aware of the potential conflict" facing Bethune, said Bell. "If there is clearly a conflict, I think he should give up the case."

As for the Enron story, the Chron ran the WaPo piece. I haven't seen any mention yet in any of the other major Texas papers.

UPDATE: I stand corrected - the DMN and the Star Telegram did indeed carry the WaPo story. I had assumed it'd be in their Elections/Politics sections, but it wasn't and I didn't bother with a site search. My bad. Thanks to Kevin for pointing this out.

The full 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned its preliminary ruling and declared Henry Cuellar the winner of the 28th CD Democratic primary over Rep. Ciro Rodriguez.

The 5-2 ruling ends Rodriguez's bid in state court to overturn the 58-vote lead held by Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar in Congressional District 28.

"This is the moment our campaign has been waiting for," Cuellar said in a statement. "We have won at the polls and we have won in the courtroom. Now it's on to November and victory."

Rodriguez, reached by phone in Washington, said he and his campaign team will examine other legal avenues open to challenge Monday's ruling. He would not rule out the possibility that he will try to get his case heard in federal court.

"There's no doubt that I'm not going to let this one go," he said.

But no matter how it shakes out this year, Rodriguez says, expect to see him back on the campaign trail in 2006.

"If I'm the congressman, I'm running for re-election," he said. "And if I'm not the congressman, I'm still running for re-election."

In late June, a three-judge panel of the 4th Court sided with Rodriguez by a 2-1 vote that overturned a lower judge's ruling that the incumbent could not challenge eligibility of hundreds of voters in Webb and Zapata counties because the issue was not raised properly.

Cuellar, a longtime Democratic legislator who served as secretary of state under Republican Gov. Rick Perry, appealed and persuaded the full seven-member court to hear the issue.

On Monday, the 4th Court vote broke along party lines, with the five GOP justices in the majority and the two Democrats dissenting.

The two Democrats comprised the majority in the original ruling that was reversed.

"This send a very unfortunate message," Rodriguez said of the party-line decision.

"From the very beginning all we have asked is to have our day in court," he continued, "and over one little ruling or another or one technicality or another, we have not had our opportunity to be able to do that."

Rodriguez, from San Antonio, led by 145 votes on primary election night, but Cuellar swung into the lead during a districtwide recount.

Most of Cuellar's recount support came when more than 200 previously untallied ballots were discovered in Webb County, where he lives, and neighboring Zapata County.

Rodriguez filed suit in early April, alleging irregularities in the "casting, counting and recounting" of ballots in the two counties.

Later that month, he amended his lawsuit by adding details of the alleged irregularities involving "more than 100" voters. He claimed some of the voters didn't live in the district, while others gave false information to election officials in order to cast ballots.

Cuellar challenged the amended lawsuit, saying it raised new claims after the filing deadline, and that it also amounted to a legal ambush too close to the trial date.

State District Judge Joseph Hart agreed with Cuellar on both counts. He ruled that Rodriguez could only challenge the outcome of the election recount at trial, not the eligibility of individual voters.

Chief Justice Alma Lopez and Justice Catherine Stone, the 4th Court's two Democrats, wrote that Rodriguez has a right to question the legality of the votes and that Cuellar had sufficient notice to defend himself.

But Justice Paul Green, who issued a scathing dissent in the first appeals ruling and wrote Monday's majority decision, said that Rodriguez was trying to bring a completely different allegation to trial.

"Because Rodriguez's original petition did not have a single page, paragraph, sentence or word referring to anyone as having voted illegally," Green wrote, "any reasonable person ... would be led to conclude that the sole basis for his election (lawsuit) was the vote count."

As it stands now, Cuellar will oppose Republican nominee Jim Hopson of Seguin in the November general election in the heavily Democratic district.

"We will take nothing for granted," Cuellar said. "We will continue to aggressively campaign throughout all 11 counties (in the district) until the last vote is counted."

What is it with Republican Senators and their bizarre obsession with interspecies intercourse?

"It does not affect your daily life very much if your neighbor marries a box turtle. But that does not mean it is right. . . . Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife."

-- Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), advocating a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in a speech Thursday to the Heritage Foundation.

UPDATE: I join Dwight in supporting the FARM Amendment.

I'll echo Kevin in congratulating Rudy T for his new gig. Actually, I think it's the Lakers that deserve the kudos, for having the good sense to hire a coach like Tomjanovich. It'll be weird seeing him in LA, like it was when Yogi Berra was briefly an Astros coach, but I'll cope. I still don't think I'll be able to root for the Lakers under any normal circumstances, but I won't dislike them as much now, and that should count for somethig.

She has until 2 PM to turn herself in, at which point she puts on the orange overalls and gets acquainted to her new surroundings. The good news for her is that Andy is allowed to visit.

UPDATE: And there she goes.

All I can say is wow.

In May 2001, Enron's top lobbyists in Washington advised the company chairman that then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was pressing for a $100,000 contribution to his political action committee, in addition to the $250,000 the company had already pledged to the Republican Party that year.

DeLay requested that the new donation come from "a combination of corporate and personal money from Enron's executives," with the understanding that it would be partly spent on "the redistricting effort in Texas," said the e-mail to Kenneth L. Lay from lobbyists Rick Shapiro and Linda Robertson.

The e-mail, which surfaced in a subsequent federal probe of Houston-based Enron, is one of at least a dozen documents obtained by The Washington Post that show DeLay and his associates directed money from corporations and Washington lobbyists to Republican campaign coffers in Texas in 2001 and 2002 as part of a plan to redraw the state's congressional districts.

If I had the time and resources, I'd go back about ten years and review all of the things that Dan Rostenkowski and Jim Wright were accused of, and compare them to the accusations which are being made against Mr. DeLay. Of course, if someone else wants to take that ball and run with it, that'd be fine by me. Meantime, stay tuned.

Some day, someone will appear on a talk show as Ken Lay's cellmate.

After he was taken to the federal courthouse in handcuffs Thursday, ex-corporate kingpin Ken Lay started chatting with a couple of other men in his holding cell.

The two, in green prison garb and leg irons, were charged in the smuggling ring deaths of 19 undocumented workers in Victoria.

"One young man said: `I think I saw you on TV last night,' " recalled Lay, who had surrendered that day and was awaiting a court hearing so he could be freed on bond.

So for the next three hours, the former CEO and two alleged human smugglers talked. Defendants from other holding cells soon chimed in.

"A couple even asked me for investment advice," Lay said with a laugh.

His response: "Well, I've not really thought much about that recently," said Lay, who lost hundreds of millions of dollars after Enron's collapse.

Oh, and the letters to the editor ran 4-0 against Kenny Boy on Saturday. Scroll down to "On Ken Lays indictment, guilt".

I'd say this is as good a reason as any why Tom DeLay doesn't fear Chris Bell's ethics complaint against him, GOP attempts to make it go away by fiat notwithstanding.

WASHINGTON -- Of the five Republicans investigating an ethics complaint against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, four have received campaign contributions from DeLay's political action committee, splitting $28,504 over the past seven years, records show.

The contributions, all delivered before the ethics committee received the DeLay complaint June 15, highlight the conflict-of-interest pitfalls and awkward situations spawned by the U.S. House's decision to police itself on ethics.

"I think all the members hate" serving on the committee, said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan government watchdog.

"You're put in the position of either doing nothing -- which is what they generally do -- in which case you are fairly criticized for not taking your job seriously. On the other hand, you can try to enforce the rules and get all the other members angry at you," said Noble, who spent 13 years as general counsel for the Federal Election Commission.

DeLay is his party's most prolific fund-raiser in the House. His political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, has raised almost $2.7 million during this election cycle, spreading $623,000 among 75 House candidates, many of them incumbents. House Democratic leaders also give freely to members of their caucus.

Given DeLay's largesse and his drive to expand the Republican majority beyond its 22-seat House advantage, it's not surprising that ethics committee members are among the many recipients of the PAC's cash.

The breakdown, according to Federal Election Commission records from 1997 through May 2004, is:

* $14,777 for Rep. Kenny Hulshof of Missouri. The latest contributions, totaling $9,000, were in 2000.

* $10,553 for Rep. Steven LaTourette of Ohio, with $10,000 coming this year.

* $1,764 for Rep. Judy Biggert of Illinois in 1998.

* $1,410 for Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington, also in 1998.

* Chairman Joel Hefley of Colorado received no money from DeLay's political action committee.

In addition, DeLay's PAC gave money to most members of the "ethics pool," a group designated by House Speaker Dennis Hastert to serve on potential investigative subcommittees. The PAC contributed $65,902 to eight of the 10 Republican members, ranging from $525 to Rep. Sam Johnson of Dallas to $20,000 for Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois, Election Commission records show.

Republicans say the money will not influence the committee, noting that similar contributions from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich didn't hinder the panel. A two-year investigation into activities related to Gingrich's political action committee resulted in a $300,000 fine and the first reprimand of a sitting speaker in 1997.

Olivia has proven to be a pretty good traveller so far. She slept most of the way to New Braunfels, timing her wake-and-cry for feeding to within five minutes of a rest stop. She was a bit more awake, and a little bit cranky, on the way back, but we're talking maybe a 1.0 on the baby Richter scale.

As expected, my dad held her most of the time he was with us. A few other relatives got brief opportunities, and we took pictures quickly before he changed his mind. Olivia mostly slept in his arms. She was a bit wound up at the hotel last night, after several hours of stimulation and noise, and we were a bit afraid that she wouldn't let us or our wallmates get any sleep, but she settled down in a reasonable amount of time and slept normally. Have I mentioned lately that she's about the easiest baby to take care of you've ever known? Don't ask me how we got this lucky, and don't ask me why I'm pressing my luck in this fashion.

Anyway, I'm catching up now. More later.

We're off to New Braunfels to introduce Olivia to some family. Wish us luck on the road. Back tomorrow with stories to tell.

What can you say about an editorial from a Republican-stronghold newspaper that calls Governor Perry dumb and mean? Not mincing words, I guess.

The political behavior exhibited by Governor Rick Perry has been perplexing to many people. He often seems to revel in disaster, as when his staff reportedly cheered at the Legislature’s unanimous — unanimous, Democrat and Republican — rejection of his jerry-built school finance proposal.

Today he suffers the lowest popularity of any governor in modern Texas history. Republicans seem to be lining up to oppose him: Karen Hughes and Commerce Secretary Don Evans are rumored to be testing the waters already heavily navigated by Carol Keeton Strayhorn. Biding her time at the wheel of her own battleship is the most popular Republican in the state, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

So what gives with the governor? Why has he gone to such lengths to alienate his own base? Come to think of it, why does he so often do the opposite of what makes sense?

We think we may have found the answer.

In our experience, there are four types of people.

[...]

Then there are people who are dumb and mean. By far the worst of the human lot, these people are too dimwitted to grasp where their self-interest lies. They’re always suspicious because they believe that everyone else is trying to take advantage of them, and since they’re too dumb to figure out what’s good for them, they mistrust anyone who tries to explain it to them. Not trusting anybody else’s motives, and not quite sure of their own, they are likely to react by firing in all directions, often shooting themselves in the foot.

We would never say publicly what so many of Mr. Perry’s colleagues say privately, so we will address the first part of the dumb-and-mean equation by simply averring — as he would probably acknowledge himself — that Mr. Perry is no intellectual giant. Measuring the man by his actions, we have little need to know his IQ.

On the second part of the equation, Mr. Perry has also revealed enough of himself to make his character plain. There are people who confuse nastiness with toughness in the hope that other people will confuse them too. Mr. Perry has cultivated a reputation in political circles, and this is one case in which reputation reflects the real man.

When one considers how Mr. Perry so often does the opposite of what is in his own best interest to do, no other explanation fits. He thinks he knows what he’s doing. Unfortunately for Texas, he doesn’t. And he’s mean about it.

Kinky Friedman has compared Rick Perry to Gray Davis, and I think it's an apt analogy. Think back to when Davis when office. Here are some characteristics they share or shared:

1. Unloved by their own party, despised by the other party.

2. More interested in ruling, by force of will if need be, than governing. Not known for compromise, and not afraid to stomp on a legislative colleague who isn't singing from his hymnal.

3. Won reelection after a strongly negative campaign.

4. Presided over bad budgetary times, and increasingly seen as largely to blame for it.

Now, no one's going to start a recall campaign for Rick Perry, and they wouldn't get anywhere even if they did. But I do know that given a choice, he's the opponent the Democrats want in the 2006 Governor's race. I could certainly see a John Sharp or a Jim Turner, a moderate Dem with a fiscal conservative background and an ability to reach across the aisle, giving him a tough race. I also see it as being even nastier than 2002, as he likely won't have much of a record to run on. Who do you think the Park Cities People Newspapers editors will endorse? They're probably looking forward to writing that piece. Via Yellow Dog Blog.

Don't expect any members of Enron's Board of Directors to do the perp walk with Kenny Boy and his cohorts.

Enron's 14-member board could escape the collapsed company with little more than bruised reputations and perhaps a few million dollars in civil settlement payments.

"The defense that boards typically rely on is that they were not told by management what was really going on, that they were lied to," said Paul MacAvoy, a professor of corporate governance at Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

Board members traditionally get their information from management and the gatekeepers -- the law firms and external auditors -- and that distance from key information makes it difficult for prosecutors to prove criminal intent.

"Unless you have something like a document where a board member says, `This is illegal but we're doing it anyway,' criminal intent for a board member is hard to prove," said Franklin Edwards, a professor of finance and corporate governance at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business in New York.

Charles "Hank" Still, a partner with Fulbright & Jaworski, notes that prosecutors would have to prove that criminal state of mind to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

"It's a standard that's much tougher than in civil court," Still said.

Before the bankruptcy, Enron's board was seen as a model of good corporate governance. The board had all the recommended committees and procedures in place and was deep with experience. Wendy Gramm, the wife of former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm, came to the board after a stint as chairwoman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, a position that made her very familiar with Enron's business. Another board member, Robert Jaedicke, was qualified for his role on the audit committee as former dean of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in California.

Despite that knowledge, the board has been criticized for failing to react to what some have called clear signs of trouble. A July 2002 report by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations claims the board " ... knowingly went along with Enron's high-risk accounting and off-the-books deceptions."

A report by bankruptcy examiner Neil Batson also said the board failed to serve as an effective check against bad decisions at the company but was more moderate in its criticisms of the board members themselves. It concluded that the board had many of the right tools and mechanisms in place to do its job but did not understand the complexity of company transactions, was inattentive to its oversight function and may have been lied to by management.

W. Neil Eggleston, an attorney representing the directors, said the board couldn't have done more.

"All of the reports say the board was widely misled by management, and none of them concluded that they were participants in the fraud," Eggleston said.

I'm sure the answer is that these smart, experienced, savvy people should have at least asked a few questions and done a little checking up on their own, and I hope that as a result of their abject failure they get some punishment in the civil courts. Because if they are let off the hook, if the courts do decide that there was nothing anyone could have done, well, you know what I think.

Democrat Loranzo Sadun, aiming to oppose Mike McCaul as a write-in candidate in the 10th CD, has announced that his campaign has 500 verified signatures on their ballot access petition, which is enough to allow any write-in votes for him to be officially counted. They're going to keep at it for another two months, with a goal of 5000 sigs, but this is a good hurdle to have cleared. You can make a donation here if you want to help him out.

Major congrats to Byron LaMasters for getting credentials to cover the 2004 Democratic Convention as a blogger. I'm looking forward to reading your coverage, Byron. And bring a digicam, too - you never know who you'll be able to get close to.

He's got a PayPal link up if you want to help him defray some of the costs. Way to go, dude!

Local Voter, your one-stop shop for determining who your elected officials and upcoming ballot choices are, has a page of profiles of the speakers at te upcoming Democratic convention. A similar page for Republicans is in the works. Check it out.

UPDATE: Sorry, folks. Local Voter is Texas-only, at least for now. I'll check with its founder to see where any expansion plans may be.

This is pretty cool: digital video recorders in police cars.

The systems cost from $7,000 to $10,000 per car, about the same as traditional analog video systems. With analog, however, there's the added expense of storing hundreds or thousands of video tapes taken during domestic disputes, traffic violations and drug busts.

Tyler police said they expect to save about $50,000 a year in labor, management and supply costs with the new system.

``Any time you have absolute, concrete evidence that an incident happened as the officer says, that's a good thing,'' said Charley Wilkison, political and legislative director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. The lobbying group represents more than 100 police unions across the state.

An added bonus for officers is that information, from driver's license data to satellite GPS coordinates, can be tagged to the video, making it easy to search from officers' desktop computers.

And since it's searchable, police don't have to wade through hours of video tape cassettes to find a particular incident.

The video is saved to a high capacity computer server, eliminating the need for a staff of clerical workers and a separate storage room to file and retrieve stacks of video tapes.

In the year since the system was deployed in Yakima, it has proven especially effective in protecting police from lawsuits and complaints against officers, Capt. Jeff Schneider said.

``They tend not to go to court a whole lot once the defense looks at the video tape,'' he said.

Earlier this week, I said:

Coming up next: Why (eventually) hosting an NCAA Men's Basketball Regional at the Toyota Center will bring millions of dollars plus prestige and exposure to the City of Houston! Just bookmark this post for future reference.

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee named Reliant Park as a site for an NCAA Tournament regional in 2008 on Thursday.

The stadium was previously awarded a regional in 2010 and the 2011 Final Four.

"We are thrilled with the NCAA’s decision to come to Houston as early as 2008," said Shea Guinn, president and general manager of SMG-Reliant Park. "With the Super Bowl in 2004, the return of the Big 12 Conference football championship in 2005, the NCAA men’s regionals in 2008 and 2010 and the Final Four in 2011, Reliant Stadium is establishing itself as a long-term home for premier collegiate athletics and major national sporting events."

The University of Houston will serve as the university host for the events.

"The University of Houston has a rich tradition in men’s basketball, so we are very excited with the committee’s decision, and we look forward to working with the NCAA on preparing for the (tournaments)," UH athletic director Dave Maggard said.

Other regional sites selected for 2008 are Charlotte, N.C., Phoenix and Detroit.

First- and second-round sites are Little Rock, Ark.; Anaheim, Calif.; Birmingham, Ala.; Denver.; Omaha, Neb.; Raleigh, N.C.; Tampa, Fla.; and Washington, D.C. The Final Four will be in San Antonio.

Got this in the mail from the Richard Morrison campaign:

With former Enron CEO Ken Lay surrendering to the FBI, Richard Morrison today called on U.S. Majority leader Tom DeLay to return all of the money he received from Enron.

"It is unacceptable that Tom DeLay still refuses to give back his Enron cash," Morrison, DeLay's Democratic challenger, said. "The pensioners, stockholders and employees who lost their savings when Ken Lay's pyramid scheme collapsed are the rightful owners of that money, not Tom DeLay and his corrupt political machine."

DeLay received at least $28,900 in hard money campaign contributions from Enron and another $18,000 from Enron's accountants Arthur Anderson. Various PACS controlled by DeLay, including Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC), Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), and the Republican Majority Issues Committee (RMIC) received hundreds of thousands more.

Due to lax reporting requirements in the 1990's it will never be known exactly how much soft money Enron poured into DeLay's coffers. Only money given after 2000 had to be reported. Ken Lay personally gave ARMPAC $50,000 and Enron's total reported gifts to ARMPAC, TRMPAC and RMIC exceed $140,000.

Many politicians including Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Governor Rick Perry returned political contributions from Enron over two years ago when the scandal first broke.

Governor Rick Perry returned about $85,000 in 2002 to a special scholarship fund for the children of Enron employees. At the time, Perry’s spokesman Ray Sullivan said, "it has become clear that the company's management took inappropriate and unacceptable actions."*

"There is every reason to believe that DeLay's Enron money was ill-gotten. Ken Lay has been indicted for insider trading, fraud, and conspiracy," Morrison said. "I call on Tom DeLay to return all of that money to its rightful owners, the hard-working, honest employees, retirees and shareholders who were defrauded by Ken Lay and company."

* “Few keeping Enron contributions” Fort Worth Star-Telegram May. 11, 2002

HellieMae has the best reason I've seen to be optimistic about the Kerry/Edwards ticket, and a darned nice analogy, too. You Mac users, I swear.

So sayeth Kenny Boy.

Former Enron Chairman Ken Lay pleaded not guilty today to charges he committed fraud and lied to his employees and others.

Afterward, he called a news conference and told reporters, "It has been a tragic day for me and my family.''

"An indictment came down that should not have occurred,'' he said.

While taking responsibility for Enron's collapse as its leader, "that does not mean I know everything that went on at Enron.'' He said that while "there may be some superman somewhere" who knows every single thing that happens at his company, that's an unrealistic expectation.

"I continue to grieve as does my family over the loss of the company, my failure to be able to save it,'' Lay said. "But failure does not equate to a crime.

"I firmly reject any notion that I engaged in any wrongful or criminal activity,'' he said. "Not only are we ready to go to trial, but we are anxious to prove my innocence.''

Meanwhile, the White House is saying Kenny Boy Who?

The White House is trying to put at least an arm's length between President Bush and indicted Enron executive Kenneth Lay, a campaign benefactor Bush nicknamed "Kenny Boy" when the two were up-and-comers in Texas.

It has been "quite some time" since Bush and Lay talked with each other, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said today, brushing off questions about whether the two were friends.

"He was a supporter in the past and he's someone that I would also point out has certainly supported Democrats and Republicans in the past," McClellan said.

Lay clearly favored the GOP. He and his wife, Linda, donated $882,580 to federal candidates from 1989-2001, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All but $86,470 went to Republicans.

[...]

Lay's relationship with the Bush family dates from at least 1990 when he was co-chairman of former President Bush's economic summit for industrialized nations, which was held in Houston. Lay also was co-chairman of the host committee for the Republican National Convention when it was held in Houston in 1992.

The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit group, said the Lays had given $139,500 to George W. Bush's political campaigns over the years.

Those donations were part of $602,000 that Enron employees gave to Bush's various campaigns, making Enron the leading political patron for Bush at the time of the company's bankruptcy in 2001.

In addition to Lay's political campaign donations, he and his wife contributed $100,000 to Bush's 2001 inauguration. Lay also was a fund-raiser for Bush, bringing in at least $100,000 for the president's 2002 campaign. That put Lay in "Pioneer" status as one of the president's top money-raisers.

On a lighter note, check out this Gadflyer piece which highlights a few similarities between Kenny Boy and his former pal the President.

Bill Bishop catches the New York Times in a dumb mistake regarding rural voters.

Last week, the New York Times had a front page story headlined “Bush and Kerry Vie for Support of Rural Voters.” Both campaigns pushed out into the heartland over the July 4 weekend and the story was about how rural America was a strong supporter of President Bush.

That’s true. However, the Times reported “the rural vote, which amounted to 23 percent of the electorate in 2000, broke decisively, 59 percent to 37 percent, for Mr. Bush four years ago.” Well, that’s wrong. The rural vote is a little over 20 percent of the electorate. (Lasso is counting all nonmetro America, the widest definition of rural.) And the spread in 2000 wasn’t 23 points. It was 16 points. Still a healthy difference, but the Times report is off by 44 percent.

What happened? The Times based its “results” of the 2000 election on exit polls. Pollsters asked people where they lived and how they voted. Based on that, the newspaper reported how rural America voted. (It turns out some people like to say they live in rural America even when they don’t; and these people are more likely to vote Republican.)

But why depend on a poll? The actual real-enough true-blue results are right there for everyone to see. And based on that poll (which included 100 percent of all voters), the Times was wrong.

The Times was also wrong when it reported in a graph that Republicans won rural America in 1992 and 1996. They didn’t. When you count the actual votes in those elections (what a concept!!), you find that Clinton won rural voters in both years.

In 1992, Clinton won 40 percent of nonmetro voters; George H.W. Bush won 38.9 percent. In 1996, Clinton won 44.4 percent of all rural votes; Bob Dole won 43.5 percent. Close, but hardly the rising tide of Republicanism the Times (and Republicans) would have you believe.

One corollary of what Bishop found is that Ross Perot overperformed in rural areas in both 1992 and 1996, as his total share of the vote in each of those elections (18.9% and 8.4%, respectively) was less than the remaining share of the rural vote (21.1% and 12.1%). I don't really have a point to make about that, I just thought it was interesting.

Ohio State has hired Xavier's Tommy Matta to be their new men's basketball head coach. Rice's Willis Wilson had been interviewed twice for this position, and the Chron's John Lopez thinks that his current employer dissed him in the process.

In comparison to the Buckeyes' opinion of what Wilson could do for their program, the best [Rice athletic director Bobby] May could muster when OSU granted Wilson his first interview was a halfhearted commitment to keeping him.

"If somebody has an interest in your coach," May told the Chronicle last week, "I'm not sure if you can stop them if you wanted to."

Wilson was not commenting Tuesday on the Ohio State job or May's response to the Buckeyes' interest, but a source close to Wilson said he was not exactly reassured by May's words.

Another source said May already has his eye on Sam Houston State coach Bob Marlin as Wilson's replacement. That doesn't exactly sound as if the Owls are willing to go the extra mile to keep their man.

It sounds more like the Owls see in Wilson a coach who has had a long time to lift a program to greatness but fallen short despite excellence in every other facet of the department.

What Ohio State sees is a talented coach who has done a lot with a little.

It's all more than just a little curious, especially at a university that prides itself on producing alumni exactly like Wilson — part of the family, professional, successful and a man of great integrity.

Wilson might not get the Buckeyes' gig, but he should get the message. Get out. As quickly as possible.

Rice fans have been pretty divided about Wilson for some years now. Everyone recognizes that there are major handicaps to recruiting at Rice, and everyone recognizes that Rice is unlikely to ever get a truly great coach who's willing to stay around for long. (See Tulsa, whose former coaches include Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Bill Self, and Buzz Peterson, as Exhibit A.) Some Owl backers agree with Lopez' assessment of Wilson, while others note that his teams have never beaten a ranked nonconference opponent, never advanced past the semifinals of the WAC or SWC tournaments, never been remotely consistent on the road, and before 2003-04 never been a serious preseason choice to contend for the conference title. Most of us have cut him a great deal of slack after these past two years, and most of us recognize that the old floor at Autry Court severely handicapped him by being the cause of many player injuries, but most of us still believe the jury hasn't returned a verdict yet.

One more thing: I've never seen John Lopez at a Rice basketball game, either. Make of that what you will.

Last week, Jonathan Ichikawa and Ted Barlow noted that Focus on the Family included Michael Moore's home address in an email to their members which they exhorted their supporters to "let Moore know exactly what they think about his new movie". Jonathan sent an email to FOTF to ask them why they did this, and he got a response. Check it out, and check out this post by an actual evangelical minister who understands the difference between an "anti-Christian agenda" and an "anti-Bush agenda", and recognizes the proper Christian response to the former.

I like this idea: Every Tuesday, Rep. Max Sandlin's campaign blog is profiling a different county in the new CD01. This week's feature is Angelina County. This allows Rep. Sandlin to highlight his connections to all of the communities that he hopes to represent in Congress, and as an extra added bonus for me it's a good introduction to places I've never been. This is a good way to achieve Strategy 3 in Ben Rahn's online outreach plan.

The last and biggest domino has fallen.

Former Enron Chairman Ken Lay, the man who guided the energy giant to greatness and was at the helm when it crumbled, turned himself into the FBI this morning and was whisked away in handcuffs to Houston's federal courthouse to enter a plea.

"Nice of you all to show up this morning," he told a throng of reporters gathered at dawn outside the FBI's headquarters on East T.C. Jester. Wearing a blue jacket and tie, the 62-year-old businessman, philanthropist and long-time city booster entered the building without further comment.

Accompanied by three FBI agents, Lay was driven in an unmarked sedan to the courthouse, where the handcuffed defendant smiled amiably at photographers as he walked a media gantlet into the courthouse for an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy.

"I have done nothing wrong, and the indictment is not justified," Lay said in a prepared statement Wednesday evening.

Does your heart good, doesn't it?

It appears Lay will be added to the existing case against former CEO Jeff Skilling and ex-chief accounting officer Rick Causey. They are charged with insider trading, securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and lying on Enron financial statements.

[...]

Matt Hommel, who worked on Enron Online and now consults for Texas Instruments, said Lay had a job to do "and he blew it."

"Am I bitter? I'm not sure what word would describe it, but you couldn't print it anyway," Hommel said. "Lay did things that should be illegal. If it turns out they weren't, we need to change the law."

John Olson, a former analyst with Merrill Lynch who has said Lay pressured his former bosses to fire him for less-than-stellar reviews of the company, said he hopes the indictment will clear the air about who really knew about Enron's woes and when.

The indictment will also help restore investor confidence in the markets, Olson said.

"It had gotten so bad that at one point people said you shouldn't invest in any company in Houston. It's very important that we get these issues behind us as best we can," Olson said.

Politicians were quick to make hay of the indictment.

"It's about time," said Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., chairman of the consumer affairs subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, which held Enron hearings in 2002. "Enron was as obvious a pyramid as Giza. That it could have been built without Lay noticing was always a ludicrous suggestion."

The White House can claim that Mr Lay's prosecution demonstrates its commitment to spare no-one - even former donors - in its crackdown on white-collar crime. Indeed, Mr Lay has said in recent interviews that his status as a former friend of the Bush family has made him more, not less, of a target for prosecutors.

The rash of corporate fraud also did not appear to hurt Republicans, the traditional party of big business, in mid-term Congressional elections two years ago.

Even so, the Lay indictment could still damage the president if it adds to a perception articulated by opponents that his administration is run chiefly by and for large corporate interests, with little sympathy for ordinary voters.

The Enron link has re-emerged as the White House has been fending off allegations about its relationship with another politically-connected Texas energy company, Halliburton. Democrats have accused the administration of rewarding the energy services company formerly run by vice-president Dick Cheney with billions of dollars of wasteful contracts in Iraq.

While neither George W. Bush nor his father ever worked for Enron, the relationship with Mr Lay runs deep. Their alliance was a natural one given their overlap in Houston energy and Washington political circles.

Mr Lay supported George H.W. Bush's presidential campaign, and later praised him for pushing deregulation of the energy industry that helped Enron to prosper. The company later hired James Baker, Mr Bush's former secretary of state, to try to land business deals in Kuwait after the first Gulf war.

President Bush, in turn, offered Mr Lay the post of commerce secretary - which Mr Lay declined - and invited him and his wife, Linda, to stay at the White House.

Finally, here's the sad story of the demise of Jus' Stuff, Linda Lay's upscale resale shop.

Jus' Stuff has been closed for the summer, but the property is being shopped.

"I can confirm that Jus' Stuff is closed for summer vacation, and there has been an offer on the property," said Lay spokeswoman Kelly Kimberly.

[...]

Lay and her daughter opened Jus' Stuff in May 2002 and hawked furniture, antiques and knicknacks the Lays and their friends planned to chuck. Many of the items came from vacation homes the couple unloaded.

The store also offered decorative and design services.

It's unclear if the shop will sell with the inventory or even if the buyers would keep the property, owned by the Lays' real estate company, as a store.

The upscale, secondhand furniture store was dark but chock full of goods Wednesday.

The stand-alone building sits amid houses on West Gray and is valued at $76,830, according to the Harris County Appraisal District. The land is valued at $100,000, bringing the total appraisal value to $176,830.

"If the building is up for sale, I'd guess it would sell pretty well," said Blake Tartt III, a local commercial real estate broker and president of New Regional Planning. "It's a great location. The property doesn't have a lot of parking. But it's on an excellent street that is improving."

Others in the real estate business speculated the property would likely sell for land value because the building, built in 1961, is so old.

But some say 5,000 square feet of land in the Montrose area would be ideal for a small business and could sell for much more.

If I recall correctly, the building Jus' Stuff is in used to be a pet shop. Parking is indeed limited, with a tiny lot and the adjoining side road your best options - you can't park on that part of West Gray. There has been a lot of new construction in that area (it's maybe three or four blocks from where I used to live), though it's mostly been on the smaller interior roads than on West Gray, which is the main thoroughfare. I agree that it won't be hard to find a buyer if they're really selling.

Atrios reported this late last week, but it's just now getting into the media. rep. Joe Barton is being criticized for using his Congressional privilege of sending free mail (called "franking") to people who aren't yet his constituents.

Morris Meyer, an Arlington software engineer, said Tuesday that the House Franking Commission has assigned an attorney to look into whether Barton, R-Ennis, improperly sent newsletters to constituents in the newly drawn 6th Congressional District. A commission spokesman said she could not comment this morning.

Franking privileges allow government officials to send informational or polling materials to constituents using public money rather than paying for it out of their own pocket.

Under franking rules, members of Congress cannot send mass mailings to recipients outside their current district, except in certain instances.

[...]

“As a 20-year congressman, Barton knows the rules pertaining to franking privileges,” Meyer said. “He has used this to send campaign literature in the guise of an official government newsletter at the taxpayers’ expense to potential voters in areas that he does not presently represent.”

In a statement released Tuesday, Barton blamed the error on Dallas-based Valentine Direct Marketing, which produced and distributed the material.

“I have sent out an annual official newsletter for more than 10 years and have always insisted on keeping strictly within the guidelines … for use of official mailing funds,” Barton said. “The newsletter’s only intention is, was, and will always be, to inform current 6th District constituents of legislative issues facing Congress.

“The occurrence was an unfortunate mistake by the printer.”

In a letter faxed to Barton’s Washington office Tuesday, Ed Valentine of Valentine Direct apologized “for our failure to properly heed your staff’s instructions on the Summer 2004 Newsletter piece we produced and distributed on behalf of your office.

“Due to some internal confusion as a result of recent redistricting, we mistakenly mailed Summer Newsletter pieces to the ‘new’ congressional district rather than following the explicit instruction to mail congressional pieces only to the ‘current’ district.”

The letter also said that company officials were working to determine how many newsletters were sent to recipients in the new district.

Franking rules place the responsibility for ensuring correct use of the privilege to the member, even if a staffer of the member makes the wrong decision on using the privilege.

“To help avoid these violations of the franking law, with all their resultant possible penalties and reflections on the effective administration of his office, a member should reasonably ensure that his staff knows what kinds of mail are frankable …,” the rules read, in part. “Members should encourage their staff, especially in the case of all mass mailings, to consult with and seek the advice of the (Franking) Commission to the greatest extent possible.”

Here's a quick editorial roundup of Texas papers' opinions on John Kerry's choice of John Edwards:

The Express News says it suggests practicality on Kerry's part.

The Statesman says that Edwards will appeal to swing voters and his " toughness and tenacity will go a long way to make up for his inexperience in government."

The Morning News is more positive than I thought they'd be:

For the accountants – sober analysts of policy statements, who studiously parse each ticket's positions on the issues – Mr. Edwards looks like an awkward fit. On key economic issues, he is embarrassingly at odds with John Kerry, whose views must now take precedence over his own. On the issue of Iraq, where a dissenting voice might have resonance, he and Mr. Kerry are as one.

However, for those who experience a presidential race as an exercise in retelling our national story, Mr. Edwards is an outstanding choice. Not only is his personal saga compelling, but his optimism and drive touch aspects of our fundamental self-concept as Americans.

Will Republicans exploit his protectionist stances, so out of step with Mr. Kerry's free-trade instincts? Yes.

Will many voters overlook such discrepancies because they like the man and find his energy infectious? Yes.

John Edwards has much to learn in the next four months, and America has much to learn about him.

The El Paso Times says they're not surprised, and expresses hope for a clear outcome this time around. They also note that former GOP Senator Al D'Amato thinks Cheney ought to go.

Not an editorial, but Democrats in Midland are happy with the choice.

The Amarillo Globe-News thinks Edwards will add life to the ticket.

And finally, the Chron calls Edwards a "good and expedient choice" while Cragg Hines says Kerry-Edwards is a "solid" ticket.

It may well be Kenny Boy, but the indictment is sealed so we don't know for sure yet.

The Enron grand jury delivered a sealed indictment in court today, and lawyers close to the case believe it contains charges against ex-Chairman Ken Lay and that he will likely surrender Thursday.

The foreman of the specially-called grand jury told U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy that at least 16 members were present and at least 12 voted for the indictment.

Presenting the indictment with the foreman were Enron Task Force prosecutors John Hueston and John Hemann, who are working on the Lay investigation and have taken witnesses before the grand jury in the last few months.

Prosecutors have quizzed grand jury about Lay's receipt of warnings of financial trouble and fraud at the company within weeks of then-CEO Jeff Skilling's August 2001 departure; Lay's encouraging public statements to investors and analysts after Skilling quit; and his attempt to find an alternative to substantially writing down the "goodwill" price paid for assets.

Lay is likely to be charged with some type of fraud, possibly similar to the charges against Skilling and former Chief Accounting Officer Rick Causey.

They are charged with insider trading, securities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and lying on Enron financial statements. They are generally accused of manipulating earnings reports to hide Enron's failures from the investing public while reaping lucrative salaries, bonuses and other benefits.

Lay's defense attorney, Mike Ramsey, has insisted Lay is innocent and will not be indicted.

Several of the lawyers representing witnesses in the case speculate that rather than indict Lay separately, prosecutors will add Lay to the case against Skilling and Causey, meaning the three would be tried together.

The Enron grand jury was impaneled in March 2002 and prior to today had indicted 23 people on charges relating to the collapse on Enron. Those previously indicted by this group include bankers and 16 former Enron executives. Others have been charged and waived indictment.

UPDATE: The Chron confirms that the indictment is against Kenny Boy.

I suppose this serves as someone's definition of "balance". It sure serves as a good reason why the concept is often meaningless in journalism.

Two AP headlines, as carried in the Chron.com Politics section:

Financial stats prove Edwards is privileged

Self-made Edwards is America's Everyman

Yeah, that Everyman character sure is privileged, isn't he?

Via Political Wire and an email tip from AJ Garcia, I see that Tom DeLay has hired himself some lawyers to handle both the ethics complaint against him in the House and the Travis County grand jury investigation into TRM/TAB. The full story is beneath the More link.

DeLay Chooses Legal Team

July 7, 2004
By John Bresnahan, Roll Call Staff

Facing legal challenges in Washington and Austin, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has retained lawyers to defend him in both a Congressional ethics probe and an ongoing investigation into Texas’ 2002 legislative races.

DeLay has rehired former Rep. Ed Bethune (R-Ark.), currently a lawyer with the firm Bracewell & Patterson, to represent him against an ethics complaint filed by Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas), DeLay aides said.

Bethune was DeLay’s lawyer in 2000 after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a civil-racketeering lawsuit against the Texas Republican, and he also defended former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) during the latter part of his ethics battles with House Democrats.

Meanwhile, in Austin, sources close to the Texas Republican said DeLay has hired two criminal-defense attorneys, Bill White and Steve Brittain, to represent him in an investigation by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who is probing the activities of a DeLay-founded PAC during the Texas 2002 legislative races.

White and Brittain — who consulted with DeLay, and Earle, informally for several weeks — were officially retained in the week prior to the July 4 Congressional recess to monitor developments in Earle’s investigation and determine their potential impact on DeLay.

Bethune, a former FBI agent and prosecutor, served in the House from 1978 to 1984. At Bracewell & Patterson, Bethune’s lobbying clients have included Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Raytheon Corp. and the Southern Co., as well as the FBI Agents Association.

While the DCCC lawsuit against DeLay was eventually dropped, DeLay faced a legal bill in excess of $500,000 from the case. DeLay, then Majority Whip, set up a legal defense fund to cover the expenses from the Democratic lawsuit. Sources said DeLay may seek a waiver from the ethics committee to use the same fund to help pay for costs arising from the current Texas investigation.

In his ethics complaint, Bell has alleged that DeLay illegally solicited donations from corporations; misused a Texas PAC to “launder illegal corporate contributions” and steered those funds to Texas state legislators; and abused his office to intervene in a Texas redistricting battle.

DeLay has adamantly denied the charges, and he has until the end of this month to formally respond to the House ethics committee on Bell’s charges.

Bethune did not return several calls seeking comment for this article.

The Texas case involves the question of whether a DeLay-founded PAC, Texans for a Republican Majority PAC, illegally funneled corporate funds into Texas legislative races in 2002. Texas Republicans gained full control of the state Legislature following the 2002 elections for the first time since Reconstruction. The GOP majority proceeded to push through a Congressional redistricting plan that threatens to unseat as many as five House Democrats this fall.

Earle is investigating allegations that TRMPAC, founded by DeLay in September 2001, broke Texas law by funneling corporate funds into the Texas races. The use of such funds in state races is illegal under state law.

TRMPAC, which is run by a top DeLay fundraiser, Jim Ellis, did not report to Texas electoral authorities more than $750,000 in contributions it received during the 2001-02 cycle. Of that total, at least $602,000 came from corporations.

TRMPAC, though, did declare the donations to the IRS. TRMPAC claims it used the funds for “administrative” expenses related to the 2002 elections, which would be legal. Democrats and Texas-based public watchdog groups counter that TRMPAC improperly used the money to fund election activities that helped Republicans win control of the state Legislature.

DeLay sat on TRMPAC’s advisory board during the previous cycle, although he has denied having any role in TRMPAC’s operations beyond raising money for the group.

DeLay has not been subpoenaed to testify in Earle’s investigation yet, but his aides believe it could happen. His daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro, who served as a consultant to TRMPAC, and Ellis have been, as well as several other TRMPAC officials. The Texas Association of Business, which watchdog groups allege colluded with TRMPAC in evading Texas’ election laws, also has been a target of Earle’s probe.

If DeLay were to be indicted on a felony charge, he may be forced to give up his Majority Leader post, at least temporarily, until the case is adjudicated.

In the course of examining the Edwards-as-VP selection, Greg goes off on what may be an entertaining tangent.

With the ticket settled, I think its time to begin turning a little attention to debates. The bigs will have their say, likely in three little-watched debates. Saturday Night Live may have a blast with them, but I'll reserve judgement till they air. Here in the blogosphere, I think its time to do things our way, however. One scenario I'll toss out here for consideration:

Pick two or three participants per side. I'd likely nominate myself, Kuff, Kevin, and erstwhile commentor Ulysses since there's a more or less equal opportunity for knowing each other's argumentation styles and ideological quirks some. Run the debate something like OpinionDuel.com does with a 4-day rotation whereby each participant gets a turn at leading off the debate with a challenging or pointed question to the other side. During the day, this post is followed by response by the opposition, a rebuttal by the initial side, and the last word by the opposition. Each contestant getting a turn at bat. Goal being to make the best case possible for either a Bush/Cheney ticket or a Kerry/Edwards ticket. The same plan can be carried out by one side apeice, but I think the more participants, the better ... up to perhaps 3 or 4 a side.

I just deleted 10 comment spams from a weight loss site. If you're using MT Blacklist, save yourself some grief and add the following regexp to your ban list:

weigh[\w\d\-_]*less[\w\d\-_]*rx[\w\d\-_]*\.[a -z]{2,}

Take out everything between the brackets and put a ".com" at the end if you want to kill the specific site instead of variations on it.

The numbers in this Gallup poll, which deliberately oversampled blacks and Hispanics to get a better picture of their leanings, has what I would call qualified good news for John Kerry. The numbers here are decent, but not as good as they could be and not quite as good as they need to be, though there's room for growth. Let's take a closer look:

In the two-way contest, Bush enjoys a 12-point lead over Kerry among whites, 53% to 41%. But among blacks, Kerry wins overwhelmingly (81% to 12%), and among Hispanics he enjoys a 19-point lead (57% to 38%).

Kerry also lags behind Gore in black voter support, but I expect that will go up. Bush's 12% number is a slight improvement over 2000. As for white voters, the 12-point gap is the same as it was in 2000. Holding steady there would be fine for Kerry if his black and Hispanic numbers improve as I think they will.

In a way, the more interesting result is the generic Congressional ballot, which seems to shed some light on the recent polls that have shown a gap in favor of the Democrats:

The generic ballot, which asks voters which party's candidate they expect to vote for in their congressional districts, shows a moderately close contest among whites, with Republicans leading Democrats by six points (48% to 42%). However, a large majority of Hispanics say they will vote Democratic (by 60% to 35%), and overwhelmingly, blacks will vote for the Democratic candidates in their districts (83% to 14%).

You can tell by the bumper stickers for various Presidential candidates. (May I just say - Fred Harris? Birch Bayh? Jerry Brown? And to think some people thought the Democratic candidates this year were a bunch of nobodies.) Click on some of the other years for a bit of nostalgia and the occasional guffaw (Reubin Askew?). Via Mark Schmitt.

Too bad I can't make it to this.

All Your Texts Are Belong To Us - Hacking Literature With Perl

In 1996, Don Foster correctly identified Joe Klein as the author of the bestselling political novel "Primary Colors," bringing instant notoriety to himself and to the sub-branch of statistical natural language he called 'literary forensics.' Since then, Internet search engines, open source databases, and enormous digitization efforts like the Gutenberg project have made it easier than ever to unleash computers on text, with fascinating results.

This talk will show how to apply algorithms from fields as diverse as graph theory, signal processing, and information retrieval to literary texts, unlocking their secrets without forcing the programmer to do any actual reading. Whether tracing thematic connections, figuring out whether an author really wrote a given passage, or creating Cliff's Notes-like summaries of long novels, computers can fake a surprising degree of literary acumen. Many of the half-forgotten natural language processing techniques from the 1970's turn out to be perfectly suited to literary analysis, and quite simple to implement.

Come see our open source literary toolkit in action, learn about clever ways to play with natural language, and help bring us closer to the goal of replacing the graduate student in literature with a small Perl script.

Today is President Bush's 58th birthday, and the DCCC has some birthday wishes for him. I may be haiku-disabled myself, but my readers aren't. And you still have a few hours left to compose one for yourself to send to him.

More Texas Tuesdays goodness from Mark Strama, who gave us a nice interview. Here's a taste, on the question "what have you learned from your experience working in State Sen. Rodney Ellis' office?"

Probably the most important lesson I learned from him is that politicians, to preserve their integrity, must be willing to lose their office. I remember one time when Rodney was confronted with a choice between doing what he thought was right, and doing what was politically expedient. He was genuinely concerned – wrongly, as it later turned out – that voting his conscience on this issue could actually get him defeated in a future election. He thought hard about it, and when he made his decision, he called me on the phone (which I remember vividly, because it was 4 in the morning when he called), and said, “The heck with it, I’m doing the right thing. And if I get defeated, I’ll still be a lawyer, I’ll still be an investment banker, I’ll still be Nicole Ellis’ daddy, and I’ll still be an interesting guy to talk to at a cocktail party.”

And a short break for local news: Hey, guess what, the city of Houston is going to be rolling in money thanks to the All-Star Game!

About 40,000 tickets have been sold for the All-Star Game, Gardner said. State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has said at least 29,000 out-of-state fans will come to Texas for the game and related events and spend an average of $316 per day.

And Marketing Information Masters Inc., a consulting firm hired by the Astros, has projected that the All-Star Game will pump $48 million into the local economy. The state will gain $4.3 million in sales tax revenue from that spending, while the city is expected to collect an additional $1.5 million, the consultants said.

But the benefits extend beyond the money, said Jordy Tollett, president of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. The game and other events will be televised in more than 200 countries, he said.

"Every city vies for the All-Star Game and Houston got it," Tollett said. "It means exposure, exposure, exposure."

[...]

The Comptroller's Office recently estimated that the All-Star Game and related festivities could bring $85.6 million in economic gain statewide. In contrast, the Super Bowl was expected to generate between $300 million and $336 million statewide.

City officials said verifying how much money flooded into the local economy from the Super Bowl has been difficult because the economy felt an upswing during the period and it's hard to ascribe financial boon solely to the Feb. 1 Super Bowl.

Verifying how much money any sporting event creates can be difficult, said Clark Haptonstall, director of the Sport Management Program at Rice University. But, he added, the games promote host cities and can help create the chance for future economic gain.

"One of the reasons clearly you want to have these events is that it is a good commercial for the city," Haptonstall said.

1. There's no way that every single visiting fan is spending (on average) $316 per day. Houston isn't that expensive, and surely some of them are sharing hotel rooms and rental cars. And if that total reflects money spent on All-Star Game tickets and souvenirs, remember that most of that boodle goes straight to Major League Baseball and not to local businesses.

2. Note to Jordy Tollett: Every major league city is supposed to get a chance to host the All Star Game once about every thirty years or so. Every city that's built a new stadium at taxpayer expense has had a chance in recent years. You compete to be a Super Bowl host city. You wait your turn to be an All Star Game host city.

3. If they still can't tell us how much extra revenue the Super Bowl generated five months after the fact, why should we believe any forecasts?

4. If they can't separate Super Bowl money from "the economy felt an upswing" money, why should we believe any forecasts?

5. Yes, I've said all this before.

Coming up next: Why (eventually) hosting an NCAA Men's Basketball Regional at the Toyota Center will bring millions of dollars plus prestige and exposure to the City of Houston! Just bookmark this post for future reference.

Here are a couple of images for you:

via Brian Linse

via Jack O'Toole

I see that the Bush-Cheney team have their McCain ad up. Here's the Democrats' response (via Atrios), plus a few words from John McCain on Senator Edwards (via Political Wire). Nice timing, guys!

Oh, and I agree with Jim D: KHPT disc jockey Carey Edwards is going to wish he had a different name any minute now.

UPDATE: The Bonassus has the perfect campaigning strategy for Kerry/Edwards.

UPDATE: As expected, Archpundit is eating a little crow today. No worries; as someone pointed out in his comments, at least his misstatement is not in a sure-to-be-a-collector's-item form like the New York Post. And yes, going from Gephardt-dread to Edwards-elation beats the heck out of the other way 'round.

UPDATE: Larry Sabato lists some plusses and minuses for Edwards. I note with interest that his view of the Edwards/Cheney VP debate matchup is diametrically opposed to mine. Now I'm actually interested in the VP debate to see who's right. Via Political Wire.

The Associated Press and CNN say that John Kerry has picked John Edwards as his running mate. All things considered, I think this was his best choice. If nothing else, I'll be eternally grateful to not have to listen to any more bitching of the (sizeable) anti-Gephardt contingent. Thank you, John Kerry, for sparing me that!

Seriously, I like this choice. Edwards will be a great contrast to Dick Effin' Cheney in the debates, he'll fire up the grass roots, and if polls are to be believed, he puts North Carolina in play. We'll see if this gives Kerry a 15 point lead or not - I sure as heck hope to see some separation in the polls now, though 15 points seems a little much to me. And I share with Jesse the sheer joy of seeing the Post get it wrong in 48-point type. I'll have some more thoughts later, after I'm certain this isn't all a mixup.

And since I fear everything else will get swept aside, I'm going to add a reminder that Texas Tuesdays is featuring Mark Strama today. When you need to take a breath from all this VP hype, click over and check him out.

UPDATE: The official Kerry campaign email has gone out. (Oops! I'm on so many other email lists I didn't realize this wasn't one of them. Bad Kuff, no biscuit.)

UPDATE: Turns out I did get the email after all, just not until 9:15. Not that I needed it by then, but I did get it.

Another Tuesday, another fine candidate to check out on Texas Tuesdays. Today's feature is Mark Strama, running against first-term incumbent Jack Stick in Austin's SD 50. This is a race that has been targeted by the state Democratic Party, and it should be a competitive one - Stick won with 55% of the vote in 2002, but both John Sharp and Kirk Watson carried the district, and Ron Kirk garnered 48%. I see this is being kind of a bellwether race - if the Dems win here, they're probably having a good day around the state, while if they lose here, things are probably going pretty well for the GOP.

Anyway, Strama is an exciting candidate with a background in both politics and the Internet. Check out the intro to Mark and the look at his campaign academy, and check back later for an interview with him. If you like what you see, please consider helping him out.

Via Steve Casburn:

At River Oaks Elementary, there is a bench with this dedication:

"Education is the key to opportunity"
-- in honor of Linda and Ken Lay's grandchildren

This is true. Without education, you'll never get the opportunity to defraud your shareholders of billions of dollars.

This article about the IRS taking the fight to tax evaders contains one of the best bits of unintentional comedy you'll see this year:

Also last month, a federal court in Nevada held Irwin Schiff, a well-known promoter of what the Justice Department called "frivolous tax evasion excuses," liable for more than $2 million in taxes and penalties in a case involving unpaid taxes for 1979 through 1985.

Schiff argued that penalties shouldn't apply on the grounds that he suffers from a "chronic and severe delusional disorder" that resulted in his irrational and incorrect beliefs about to the federal income tax system. The court rejected that.

Excellent piece by Ben Rahn of ActBlue on how Democratic candidates can and should reach out to the online community. I pretty much agree with all of it - I've advocated quite a bit of it myself - and the only thing I'd add is that his projected multi-campaign blog already exists, even if our version of it is (for now) all volunteer-driven and not officially associated with any campaign. Check it out.

Whole lot of speculation in the blogs that Kerry is about to name Dick Gephardt as his VP choice. Archpundit started it, then Political Wire and Kos picked it up. There's a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the various comment threads, as the blog population really doesn't like Gephardt (not that I can blame them). I'm just going to say two things: The only comparison that matters for Kerry's choice, whether Gephardt or someone else, is to Cheney, and I'm not going to worry about the rest of it until it becomes more than blog speculation. (I say that with all due respect to Archpundit, who has some sources and is claiming to get this from a good one.) When we know more, I'll say more.

UPDATE: The die has (maybe) been cast, depending on whom you ask. If you really want to read more about this now, Archpundit has a roundup of reactions, while Ezra gets on the not-so-bad bus. (Oh, and read Ezra's Gadflyer article. It's good, and I want people like him to get more non-blog exposure.)

Today is your last chance to compose a haiku in honor of President Bush's birthday tomorrow. My muse for this sort of thing has obviously taken the weekend off, as I've tried and failed to come up with a good one. Maybe I'll spend a few minutes here and see if it helps. And I'll be checking with The Stakeholder to see if they're successful at delivering the haikus and cards for the President's birthday.

Clay Robison notes that all of the Democrats' complaints in their exploration of impeachment against Governor Perry were first aired by Republicans, and that by raising these charges the odds of another special session have dropped. If that's so, then I'm a little less unhappy that it has already come to light.

Nice article on former Rep. Charlie Wilson, the eccentric Texan whose career may be making it to the big screen in an adaptation of the book Charlie Wilson's War. He was an interesting guy - I wish I could find some old Molly Ivins columns online, she had some excellent anecdotes about him. Check it out.

Karl-T brings us a very interesting perspective on the state of the Texas Democratic Party from Gary Polland, former chair of the Harris County GOP and current editor of the Texas Conservative Review. Here are a couple of key excerpts, but do read the whole thing:

d.. What is Dr. Richard Murray up to? Murray is smart - he understands the GOP came to power via advancing powerful ideas. At the convention he was circulating plans for a private funded think tank to develop issues, do polling and network to advance the Democratic Party. This means he D's are going to join the battle of ideas at a time where the state GOP is losing its focus. More on this in a future issue.

e.. What is the mood of the Democratic grassroots? Angry. It's interesting, four years ago our GOP base had it with Clinton-Gore. Four years ago, the non-fiction best-seller's list dealt harshly with them, our talk show lines were full of Clinton-Gore haters and our base was highly motivated to get back the White House. If you were at the convention, you would know we are 180 degrees from where we were. Anti-Bush books are best sellers, a Bush-bashing movie is number one at the box office, the Democrats everywhere want to win bad and anti-Bush T-shirts were top sellers at the convention. TCR believes angry voters show up to vote.

[...]

i.. Any closing thoughts? Yes, the Democratic Party reminds us of the GOP in the late 70's, growing and expanding and eager to get in power. They have a way to go - with pro-gun, pro-life and pro-fair tax and others. There was much more diversity than our convention which may portend a recognition by some Democrats they are out of touch on some issues and need to be accommodating. A Democratic Party that mutes difference with the GOP on core issues, while speaking to its traditional base could be "back" sooner than we believe. The lesson to be learned is we need to work hard to stay on top.

Here's a good background story on Gary Polland and his role in the rise of the Harris County GOP.

Happy Fourth of July! We're celebrating at home this year. Tiffany got to celebrate by taking a little shopping trip - to Target and Central Market - by herself. I got to give Olivia a bath (first solo effort by me) and a bottle (second time for that - she resisted for awhile but hunger got the best of her in the end). We've got bratwurst for dinner, so I'll be firing up the grill later.

Happy birthday to, among others, George Steinbrenner and Richard Morrison. For the rest of you, have a great day!

WiFi comes to Minute Maid Park. Of course this means realtime baseball blogging is hot on its heels. What a great country we live in.

This is the response of Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, to the story that the Bush/Cheney campaign is asking volunteers to share names and addresses from their church directories with the campaign.

"It's one thing for the church to have a voter registration drive, to seek to inform church members on public policy issues, to encourage church members to fulfill their Christian duty to vote, and to encourage them to vote their values, beliefs and convictions," Richard Land said. "It's another thing entirely for a partisan campaign to ask church members to bring in church directories for use as contact lists by the campaign and to seek to come into the church and do a voter registration drive and distribute campaign literature.

"The bottom line is when a church does it, it's nonpartisan and appropriate. When a campaign does it, it's partisan and inappropriate ... I suspect that this will rub a lot of pastors' fur the wrong way. Many pastors may consider this a totally inappropriate intrusion by a partisan campaign into the nonpartisan voter education and voter registration ministries of local churches," Land said. "I am fearful that it may provoke a backlash in which pastors will tell their churches that because of this intrusion the church is not going to do any voter registration or voter education. That would be tragic.

"It's one thing for a church member motivated by exhortations to exercise his Christian citizenship to go out and decide to work on the Bush campaign or the Kerry campaign," said Land. "It's another, and totally inappropriate thing for a political campaign to ask workers who may be church members to provide church member information through the use of directories to solicit partisan support."

Well, there's no question this is the most receptive White House to our concerns and to our perspective of any White House that I've dealt with, and I've dealt with every White House from Reagan on.

In the Reagan administration, they would usually return our phone calls. In the Bush 41 administration, they often would return our phone calls, but not quite as quickly, and sometimes not quite as receptively. In the Clinton administration, they quit accepting our phone calls after a while.

In this administration, they call us, and they say, "What is your take on this? How does your group feel about this?" I don't know if there's any question that this administration understands that Southern Baptists and other evangelicals are a very significant part of their coalition. By some estimates, 40 percent of their raw vote came from evangelicals. Mr. Bush carried every state in which there was a significant Southern Baptist presence.

This president is very popular with Southern Baptists, much more popular than he was in 2000. I think that he carried some baggage from his father's administration. The conservative evangelical groups and people never had quite the same trust level of his father that they had of Reagan. They did have the feeling that there were people in the Bush administration below the president who were not at all sympathetic to where they were coming from; much less so than the Reagan administration.

This administration, everywhere I go -- and I'm in a different Southern Baptist church almost every week, maybe two or three in a week -- they say "Please, tell the president and Mrs. Bush that we're praying for them, and how much we support them and how much we're praying for their safety and for his wisdom and guidance." I've never seen an outpouring quite like it.

UPDATE: Julia is on this one, too.

Who knew that Dick Effin' Cheney was partaking in such a hallowed national tradition? Via Mark Evanier.

Well, the Astros' trade for Carlos Beltran has been a mixed success so far. Beltran himself has been spectacular as advertised, but the Stros remain in a struggle to stay over .500, let alone challenge the suddenly surging Cardinals for the NL Central. This has gotten several people to speculate that Houston may turn around and deal Beltran to a real contender later this month. Here's Albert Chen from Sports Illustrated:

Last week's Carlos Beltran-Octavio Dotel-bunch of minor leaguers three-way swap was not small stuff, but it's a trade that could easily blow up for both the A's and Astros. There are a dozen closers out there that I'd trust more with my ninth-inning lead than Dotel, who despite his 14 saves hasn't exactly proven that he's got the closer's mentality to lock down games. (Sorry, Bill James, but makeup is just as important as strikeout-to-walk ratios for closers.)

You probably missed this because the A's ended up winning in 10 innings, but in Dotel's first outing in an Oakland uni on Saturday night, he entered the game in the eighth inning and promptly gave up a four-run lead. Yes, Dotel is a significant upgrade from Arthur Lee Rhodes, but he's no Keith Foulke.

In Houston, Brad Lidge probably will turn out to be a better closer than Dotel (he's got better stuff, and as a prospect in the minors, Lidge actually was more highly regarded than Roy Oswalt). But by getting rid of Dotel, eighth innings in Houston, formerly a sure thing with Lidge, will now be an adventure. Which leads to the ridiculous prediction of the day: In a month, the Astros will find themselves 10 games behind the surging Cubs, then will deal Beltran to another contender and ax manager Jimy Williams. ...

With all due respect, I think that's exactly bass-ackwards. Carlos Beltran is the kind of player you can build a championship caliber team around. He's a great hitter who plays a difficult position well, and has speed and on-base skills to boot. Trading him for prospects on the grounds that he's unsignable is the kind of mediocre no-desire-to-win thinking that made the Royals dump him in the first place.

Whatever happens this year, the Stros have the core of a good team going forward in the likes of Berkman, Ensberg, Lidge, Pettite, Oswalt, Miller, Everett, and maybe Jason Lane (we'll see about him). They have some decent talent on the farm (more on that in a bit), and most importantly, they have some high-priced veteran talent that could not only bring a nice price on the trade market, but also would help to free up the funds needed to keep Beltran (and Berkman) around for a few more years.

Yes, I'm talking about the original Killer B's, Biggio and Bagwell, along with Jeff Kent. Biggio would be a good fit for the Giants, who could use someone (anyone!) with on-base ability to bat ahead of Barry Bonds. The Yankees might be persuaded to give up (say) Brad Halsey and a pot of gold for Kent, as second base is the one weak spot in their lineup. Several teams could use a first baseman that can still hit - the Angels, the Twins, maybe the Padres, the Dodgers, and so on. My point is that all three would not lack for suitors if they were offered.

In return, the Astros could concentrate on getting some pitching depth, another corner outfielder or two, and maybe a first baseman (though they could easily shift Berkman there if they wanted to - he played first at Rice). These are usually commodities that many teams have and can part with. The Stros have a couple of decent second base prospects in Chris Burke at New Orleans and Brooks Conrad at Round Rock, so filling Kent's shoes should be doable.

I know, trading a couple of fan favorites is never easy and could risk a dropoff in attendance. I think, though, that Beltran's play has been good enough that if these moves were complemented by a genuine effort to sign him, the fans would be mollified. They might even be happy to let Bidge and Bags go to a team that really can win now if it looks like it can't or won't happen here.

Will that free up enough cash for Beltran, enough to keep the Yankees and other big-money teams at bay in the winter? Maybe, maybe not. There's no guarantees in this business, especially when dealing with a Scott Boras client. The Stros do have one big advantage, though, which is that they alone can talk contract to Beltran for the next five months. What do they have to lose by giving it their best shot and convincing him that he's the key to their quick turnaround? They can try that before making any trade offers, and if they feel it won't happen, they can still fall back on dealing him. But why not reach for the brass ring first?

The local news has had a field day with the nursing mothers' protest that took place yesterday at the Galleria.

They came with strollers and diaper bags, lifting up their shirts ever so slightly to champion mothers' rights to breast-feed their babies -- in public.

Call it the nurse-in. A peaceful protest without the screaming banners but with hungry infants 3 to 18 months old.

About 50 nursing mothers gathered Thursday for a demonstration at the Galleria near, aptly, the Baby Gap, where four days earlier Julie Doyle-Madrid said a female security guard asked her to cover herself in the middle of feeding her 4-month-old baby, Will.

Doyle-Madrid said another officer then told her it was the mall's preference for breast-feeding mothers to do so in a less populated area of the mall or in a restroom.

Doyle-Madrid moved but was incensed. She then told a friend about the incident, and she passed the word on.

The outrage soon spread through e-mail messages, play groups and parent meetings until a demonstration was born.

"I think it's a silly thing to be preoccupied with," said nursing mother Melynda Jones as 3-month-old Macy rested on a Boppy pillow while taking her 30-minute liquid lunch.

"We're suppose to nurture our kids. We shouldn't be banned to the bathroom to do it. Who wants to sit in a bathroom for 30 minutes?" she said.

§ 165.002. RIGHT TO BREAST-FEED. A mother is entitled to breast-feed her baby in any location in which the mother is authorized to be.

What's truly appalling about this story, though, is the explanation given by the Galleria's spokesperson for why the security guard asked Ms. Doyle-Madrid to move:

Galleria spokeswoman Connie Hascher said the incident was a misunderstanding. She said the officer only approached the nursing mother after she saw four men watching the woman as she breast-fed.

She said the officer's suggestion was in consideration for Doyle-Madrid's privacy.

Hascher said the mall doesn't have a policy or preference about where a mother can nurse, and she wasn't aware of any complaints from patrons offended by public nursing.

"We recognize any woman can breast-feed out in the public, and we support their right to do that," she said.

The bad news: A group of political scientists are predicting an easy win for Bush based on a forecasting model that has been successful in the past.

The good news: This same model predicted a big win for Gore in 2000.

Any model that is predicting an easy Bush win based on current economic news is flawed, I believe, at least in this election. For one thing, the "recovery" hasn't been very good for most people, with the employment picture still well into net negative territory. (The June data ain't so hot, either. Maybe those poliscientists ought to crunch their numbers again.) And finally, wasn't the economy chugging along pretty well by this point in 1992? You can call the public's perception of the economy a lagging indicator if you want, but isn't that perception going to be a better predictor than the actual state of the economy? It's just another form of the "are you better off today" formulation, I think.

Anyway. I'll really start paying attention to this sort of thing after the conventions, when we see what kind of bounces each guy gets. Via CateyBeth.

UPDATE: Mary Beth notes there was more not-so-good news about the economy beyond lackluster employment numbers.

Yellow Dog Blog noted yesterday this Brownsville Herald article in which some State House Democrats have explored the possibility of starting impeachment proceedings against Governor Perry. Today, the Chron, Express News, and Morning News pick up the story as well. From the Chron:

"Clearly, I think Perry should be investigated for the things he's done," said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, one of the governor's more vocal critics.

State Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, said the dozen or so legislators who have been looking into the impeachment issue include some Republicans, whom he declined to identify.

[...]

Democratic legislators contacted on Thursday identified three main complaints that they believe need further investigation:

·The Texas Lottery Commission's hiring of a Las Vegas law firm to draft legislation to legalize video slot machines in Texas. The bill failed during the recent special session on school finance, and the law firm has so far billed the state for at least $176,743.

·Perry's remarks, in a private meeting in Dallas on May 13, that a lawsuit challenging the school finance law will fail because he knows where his appointees to the high court "stand" on the issue. The governor has denied discussing the case with Supreme Court justices, but detractors say it was improper for the governor to raise questions about the court's independence.

·An allegation by Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, also denied by Perry, that he had orchestrated a politically motivated audit of her office.

Gallego said that impeachment talk was prompted primarily by the Las Vegas law firm's hiring.

"The first question that people are trying to answer is if there is a violation of law here. If so, what are the sanctions? And impeachment is on that list," Gallego said.

"I would not characterize this as an effort to impeach the governor. It's an effort to get to the bottom of some allegations that have been made," he added.

Although Attorney General Greg Abbott's office approved the law firm's hiring, Gallego said there also are questions about whether the law firm should have been paid from lottery proceeds and whether the firm had a conflict of interest because it also represents casinos.

Perry's chief of staff, Mike Toomey, also recommended that a particular consultant be hired to assist the law firm, the Lottery Commission's executive director, Reagan Greer, recently told a House committee investigating the contract.

[Perry spokesman Robert] Black said the governor had nothing to do with the Lottery Commission's decision. He said Toomey merely passed along the name of a consultant he had been given by state Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, chairman of the House Public Education Committee.

That said, I think any public mention of the I-word now, whether intentional or accidental, is way premature and will probably serve to sidetrack the more serious effort to get at the truth of these matters since the whole thing immediately becomes cast as just another escalation of partisan warfare. The focus shifts from the allegations and investigations of potential wrongdoing to screaming headlines of "Democrats want to impeach the Governor!!!" It's hard to disagree with this assessment in the Express News:

"I think this is just an element of the increasing partisanship in Texas politics, and it appears to me that this is really a Democratic Party with few levers of power left for it to operate," Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said.

"It is a party that is getting beaten about the head and shoulders and is frustrated against a very aggressive Republican majority" that controls the Legislature and all major elected statewide offices, Jillson said.

[...]

"At worst he was talking Texas bravado; at best he was just second-guessing what he hoped the court would do. Either way, I do not believe there was any misconduct by the governor," said Rep. Steve Wolens, D-Dallas.

Despite being a Perry critic, he said he does not see a basis for impeaching the governor.

"This might be a way that some would like to remove (Perry) from office, but he is no 'Pa' Ferguson, who was peddling prison pardons and withholding the University of Texas' budget," Trinity University political science professor Tucker Gibson said.

Not mentioned in today's accounts, and probably lost as a viable option to the Democrats now that Speaker Craddick has said he would oppose any impeachment effort, was this nugget from yesterday's Herald story:

At least one Republican state representative, who asked that his name not be used because of possible political ramifications, said he was studying the impeachment process along with House Democrats.

“I’m studying all the options,” he said.

I have the same general feeling about this kind of action that I do about the current grand jury investigations into TAB and TRM and the ethics complaint against Tom DeLay, which is that if you're going to take a shot at such a powerful entity, you'd better shoot to kill. The fact that Rep. Lon Burnam is a leader in this effort doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but right now this looks to me like it'll turn out to be a whole lotta nada.

Not in 2006, anyway.

Secretary of Commerce Don Evans said Thursday that he won't run for governor in 2006, despite being encouraged by a few friends to consider a Republican primary challenge of Gov. Rick Perry.

"I have no intention and no interest at all in running for governor in 2006," Evans said in a telephone interview with the Houston Chronicle, responding to recent speculation that he may be eyeing a gubernatorial bid.

"The only political aspirations I've had is to serve the president," Evans said.

The former Midland oilman and longtime friend of President Bush didn't rule out a possible gubernatorial race in 2010 but said it was too early to think about that now.

"That's a long way down the road. We will have to wait and see," Evans said.

"I do enjoy public service," he added. "I'm not going to rule anything out."

Perry plans to seek a second full term in 2006. But his job approval ratings have been slipping in recent months, and two other prominent Republicans -- U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn -- are believed to be considering primary races against him.

Evans said "a friend or two" had encouraged him to consider a gubernatorial race.

"We're not talking about any groundswell. We're talking about a handful of people," he said. "But I have no interest, no desire."

I love all this back-and-forth stuff. Here's Philip Klinkner's response to Bill Bishop and Bob Cushing, who responded earlier to Klinkner's article on their Great Divide series. Got all that?

Actually, as Klinkner noted in my comments, this is a longer version of that Gadflyer article, with charts and data. His response to Bishop and Cushing is forthcoming.

UPDATE: Here's Klinkner's response to Bishop (Word doc), which he emailed to me this morning.

I can't tell if the person who just now left the second comment on this post is a joker with a good working knowledge of Internet trivia, or someone testing out a new comment-bot. Anyone wanna take a guess?

MetroRail's daily ridership took a big leap forward in June, up to 26,000 per day.

The preliminary June count, released Wednesday evening, represents almost twice as many riders as carried during an average weekday in May and the fifth straight monthly increase. Most of June's projected increase can be attributed to service changes effective May 30 that tied almost half of Metro bus routes into the rail line and curtailed certain routes to force bus riders onto the train.

Rail critics have characterized these riders as "bus refugees," claiming that Metro uses them to pump up its train ridership count even though they don't represent a net increase in transit use and thus don't reduce traffic congestion.

Some riders have complained the switch increased their travel times, but Metro says most have benefited.

"We're encouraged by the first six months, definitely," said Ken Connaughton, Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman. "Ridership has been good, as you know, and we are at least cautiously optimistic that we may have made significant steps toward solving the safety problem."

[...]

Metro is trying to lure more riders by improving the system. Most rail stations, only open for six months, already are being renovated to make ticket vending machines easier to use. Crews are turning the machines toward the inside of the platforms to reduce glare on the screens and to keep ticket buyers dry when it rains.

The change requires the removal of one seat from three-seat benches near the machines.

"We felt it was better to give up some seats on the platform in favor of better weather protection for the vending machines," Connaughton said.

Other issues linger. Metro has not scheduled a launch date for the "smart card" system, a method of paying fares with a special plastic card that had been scheduled to be available when the line opened.

Trains have no containers to hold copies of Metro's newsletter, which are available to bus passengers.

And a contractor still is working out bugs in electronic signs posted at each platform to advise riders of service disruptions or changes and to display an alert when trains are within one minute of the station.

The authority has set a goal of 35,000 daily boardings on the rail line by year's end.

Some statistics indicate that might be difficult to achieve, however. Use of the Fannin South Park & Ride lot, the only rail station where drivers can leave their cars in a Metro lot and hop aboard a train, has fluctuated. In June, an average 450 cars paid to park at the lot each weekday, about one-third of its capacity. For many commuters, the short length of the rail line makes it a tough sell to get off the South Loop, park and spend almost a half-hour on the rails to downtown.

I'm not quite sure what the deal is with the bit about the signs which alert when the train is near. The stations I've mostly frequented, Smithlands and the Downtown Transit Center, do have them. Maybe some other stops don't, I dont' know.

And the next round in the Rodriguez-Cuellar recount fight goes to Cuellar.

SAN ANTONIO - A state appeals court on Wednesday agreed to a new hearing to reconsider last week's ruling in a voter fraud lawsuit brought by U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez.

The entire seven-judge 4th Court of Appeals will hear arguments on whether Rodriguez should be allowed to challenge the eligibility of hundreds of voters in Webb and Zapata counties who cast ballots in the March 9 Democratic primary.

Rodriguez, a seven-term incumbent from San Antonio, trails Laredo lawyer Henry Cuellar by 58 votes in the race for the Democratic nomination in Congressional District 28, which runs along Interstate 35 from San Marcos to the Mexican border.

Last week, by a 2-1 majority, a 4th Court panel overturned a lower-court judge who had ruled that Rodriguez could not use the voter eligibility issue in court because it had not been raised before a legal deadline.

Rodriguez contends that the issue was raised in a timely fashion. His legal team says it has found several hundred cases of improper voting in Webb and Zapata counties, where Cuellar received more than 80 percent of the vote.

The dissenting judge wrote a harshly worded opinion accusing his colleagues of misapplying the law and contradicting previous rulings by the same court.

The appeals majority ordered that Rodriguez be given a new trial in Laredo, but Cuellar quickly asked for a so-called "en banc" hearing that would include the entire 4th Court.

This is the first time in more than a year that the appeals court has granted an en banc hearing at the request of a party involved in the case in question, according to court records.

Rodriguez has until July 6 to submit his arguments for the rehearing.

Three cheers for Walter Willis of Tomball, who wrote the following letter to the editor of the Chron:

Our pathetic status quo

The Chronicle's June 27 Outlook article "Your 15 minutes are up, Mr. Bell," from U.S. Rep. John R. Carter, perfectly exemplified politics in the pathetic status quo. Perhaps it has always been practiced like this and is intrinsic to the human condition. But then, shame on the Chronicle for its complicity.

Carter made no argument, but attempted an ad hominem attack on Chris Bell, spewing conjecture and misinformation. I was saddened by the state of rhetoric practiced by this politician, and saddened even more by the understanding that this represents the standard accepted in the information industry.

Carter began by labeling Bell's actions as breaking a "seven-year ethics truce." This literally means that for seven years politicians have taken a hiatus from ethics! He meant that there have been no ethics complaints lodged in seven years, but this only seems to imply that there has been some sort of tacit agreement to overlook the unethical behavior of the other team. Further, since we had a president investigated from wire-to-wire for ethical issues, it is not exactly a claim with much foundation.

Nowhere does Carter logically address Bell's claims.

Politicians behave this way because they can. The argument can be made that the public is myopic and only gets the leaders it deserves. Even if that's true, it does not absolve the editors of their ethical mandate to fuel the marketplace of ideas with legitimate product.

Walter R. Willis, Tomball

The Center for Public Policy Priorities is criticizing a recently-passed bill that would allow the state of Texas and other states with no income tax to deduct sales taxes from their federal income tax.

Deductibility is merely a political sleight-of-hand to facilitate a shift in tax burden from those making more to those making less," said Scott McCown, executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which promotes public policies for poor and middle-income Texans.

"Texas taxpayers are being offered a pig in a poke," he added.

Gov. Rick Perry and other state leaders applauded the tax break when it was approved last month by the U.S. House as part of a $155 billion tax restructuring package, even though the break would be available for only the next two years.

The Senate's version of the bill doesn't include a similar provision, and it may take congressional negotiators a few months to draft a compromise.

Perry said it was only fair to give Texans the right to deduct sales taxes from their federal taxes, since people in most other states can deduct their state income taxes.

McCown fears that a new federal tax deduction would increase the likelihood of the Legislature raising the sales tax, either in a special legislative session or in the regular session, which convenes in January.

He and his group believe a state personal income tax would be a fairer, more productive way to raise additional money for education and other state needs.

An income tax faces widespread opposition in the Legislature.

State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has estimated that the average Texas family itemizing its federal income tax returns would save $310 a year if the proposal became law.

[...]

The Center for Public Policy Priorities said that, according to the Internal Revenue Service, 22.6 percent of Texas taxpayers itemized their federal tax deductions in 2001, the most recent data available.

More than 80 percent of taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of more than $150,000 itemized, compared with only 5 percent of those with adjusted gross incomes of less than $30,000, the center reported.

UPDATE: Carlos Guerra writes about this as well. Via The Stakeholder.

UPDATE: Mathwiz points out in the comments that I made the same mistake about Strayhorn's average-benefit contention that the CPPP toom pains to point out. Let me just quote them:

Some people have claimed that the proposed deduction would save Texans more than $300 per household. This is a misstatement of the comptroller’s estimate that itemizing households could save $310 in 2004, if the deduction were allowed. http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/deduction04/ The average Texas household, which would continue to opt for the standard deduction, would save absolutely nothing.

UPDATE: See the comments for some further clarifications from Dick Lavine of the CPPP.

Hmm. I didn't realize that Howard Stern had already made an appearance on Houston's airways at the time I blogged about his upcoming presence.

Radio listeners expecting their regular dose of business news on KIKK-AM (650) Wednesday morning got a jolt when shock jock Howard Stern temporarily took over the airwaves.

The controversial disc jockey, whose sexually explicit talk show was yanked from several stations for indecency, announced that he soon will be heard in Houston and eight other new markets.

Beginning July 19, Stern's polarizing show will be carried from sunup until 11 a.m. weekdays on the Houston station, which is switching to a "hot talk" format.

"You either really love him or are on the other end of the spectrum," said Bill Van Rysdam, director of programming for KIKK and KILT-AM (610), both owned by Infinity Broadcasting.

The switchboard at KIKK lit up during the hour and a half that Stern was on the air and most callers were not happy, Van Rysdam said.

Some Houstonians strongly disagree that Stern will draw a large number of listeners in the Bayou City.

"Certainly there's a niche for his lewd and raunchy behavior, but whether it's large enough to succeed in our staunchly conservative city remains to be seen," said conservative activist Richard Hotze.

From the Department of Enormous Understatements:

Stern's talk show is like no other program in the Houston market, although it could affect the ratings of the Walton & Johnson morning show on KLOL-FM (101.1), which also attracts a large adult male following.

Damn. This is going to be more fun than I thought.

Nick Confessore asks

Does anyone have good information on audience growth for the top political blogs? Are they still going up, or reaching a peak?

Why don't we take a look at their own stats? Here's the last year for Daily Kos and for Atrios.

The overall trend is pretty clearly upward, though of course a plateau could be reached at any time. Personally, I'd expect more increases between now and November, and some dropoff (hard to say how much) after the election is over.

For what it's worth, even much smaller blogs have had success at fundraising. I refer you to Angry Bear, who claims over $5000 raised for Kerry, and Roman Candles, which has raised $600.

Of course, there's also our group labor of love known as Texas Tuesdays, which has been beating the drums for various candidates since early May. I can't tell you how much we've raised - we haven't kept track of it - but I know we're getting the word out and raising awareness if nothing else.

I think one of the keys to blog fundraising is that it allows an interested audience to heare about races that may interest them which they wouldn't know about otherwise. The dKos 8 has very successfully capitalized on this. Thanks to gerrymandering, there's a lot of people like me who are in uncompetitive and uncontested Congressional districts. Thanks to blogs, there's a place for us to go to find candidates we like who can use our help. When you think about it, the blogs serve as a distribution system that allows a nominally local product to find a national market. It's no surprise to me that it's been successul, and I think it will continue to be, especially if the Democrats are smart enough to grow the audience.

The one thing I wonder about is what will happen in the lag time between this November and the 2006 election season. Will more formal structures and networks arise to build on the already-established fundraising abilities of blogs? Will McCain/Feingold be extended to regulate online fundraising? Will BlogAds be able to maintain itself without a hot market for political ads? It'll be interesting to watch.