Day 2 Netroots Nation. You can catch some of the action live on USTREAM.TV and I imagine everybody is busy having a time. Boadicea, Kuff, Vince Leibowitz, Matt Glazer, and Brian Hamon is on today at 3:00PM for "An Inside Look At The National Laboratory For Bad Government" something us Texans are experts in.
If one of yall could get Nancy Pelosi to the party this weekend I would love to ask her in an unmoderated forum what exactly somebody would have to do in order to get impeachment on the table and if it is true the Dick Cheney only showers once a week.
Things are blowing up at work this week, so I've been unable to blog as much as I like.
Apologies. I hate it when real life interrupts my blogging.
But, it's FRIDAY!!! We have new front pagers to introduce starting next week, some really pretty logos submitted for kicking off the next phase of Texas Kaos growth, and a great opportunity to pick J.R. Behrman's mind every couple of weeks.
It's spitting rain here in Austin today, and according to the Statesman, there may be thunderstorms, hail, and the perennial favorite in Texas, flash floods.
Stay warm and dry, y'all, and consider this an invitation to share your memorable weather story.
It's rapidly approaching Endoresement Season, and we've seen some come out already in TX-10. Hank Gilbert and Lorenzo Sadun are backing Dan Grant, and Barbara Ann Radnofsky has endorsed Larry Joe Doherty. Many local clubs are having their endorsement meetings in January so that the candidates can put the info on their campaign mailers.
Are you going to any Endorsement Meetings for local clubs? If so, which, and why?
Also, we're having some code issues that prevent many of the front pagers from actually front paging anything (except our own stuff). Please continue to post, folks. Until we get the issue resolved, keep checking the Recommended Diaries and Recent Diaries sections to the right.
Some people are just larger than life. I know that happens a lot in Texas, but really, Marvin Zindler is just a phenomenon. He's brutally honest in his reporting for Channel 13 in Houston, and recently he announced he is battling pancreatic cancer.
In true Marvin form, he delivered this message, on air, from his hospital room. Trademark white wig and blue glasses firmly in place.
John McCain is done, cooked, and so over. I HOPE more Republicans donate to his campaign because it's better their money goes into a black hole than somewhere it may actually do good (or is that harm?).
Wow, that was nervewracking. Many thanks to our soapblox overlords for getting the server kicked back into shape.
Good morning, and this is your open thread. Tell us what's going on in your part of the world, and how you spent the time you couldn't access Texas Kaos.
(Just don't tell me you had too much fun elsewhere. I'm a sensitive, delicate warrior queen, you know...)
link Part I: Mainstreaming Islam in the U.S.
By Erick Stakelbeck
CBN News
March 20, 2007
It wasn't just history, but a foreshadowing of the future, when America's first Muslim congressman, Rep. Keith Ellison, took the oath of office. It signaled the entrance of Muslim grassroots politics into the mainstream and embraced a core American value: the ballot box.
This is an odd article, it seems this voice of Pat Robertson's 700 Club wants to both proclaim that American Muslims have entered the (political?) mainstream and to warn us to beware of them.
link All presidents, to a degree, play politics with U.S. attorneys' jobs. Bill Clinton did so with relish. But it is revealing, if not shocking, to see vivid evidence of George Bush's contempt for (or, at best, willful ignorance of) the idea that justice should be administered impartially, even by political appointees. Most presidents pay lip service to the concept of independence, even in private discussions. The Bush Administration didn't bother.
As sure as April showers bring May flowers, so too does Fox News every year around this time announce that there is "a War on Easter." Last year, Bill O'Reilly suggested the Easter bunny was "under attack." After embarrassing himself and his colleagues, O'Reilly eventually acknowledged, "There is no attack on Easter."
This year, John Gibson is carrying the "War on Easter" mantra, hailing it today as "an incredible development." Gibson cited efforts by the city of Walnut Creek, California, to rebrand the Easter bunny as the "spring bunny." "Is this political correctness gone too far"? Gibson wondered.
Daaaay-um! It's good weather, so I guess that means I should be out in the yard cutting back all the dead branches, pulling up all the rain weeds, and picking up all the dog poop. Then there's the neighbor's trash that blew into the yard, too. I can see all this as I look out my window as I type. I'd take a picture and post it, but I'm too ashamed.
Bulldog escapes because he is driving COMM-D down to Harlingen so she can get her ass-wipe ex-husband to sign termination of parental rights papers so Ned can adopt our granddaughter. So I am stuck with poo detail. Which reminds me of what our last exchange student, Robert from Germany, called the cat box. He called it the poo station.
Piomingo is spending his college intersession skiing in Vermont with his well-to-do (what a creepy way to say "rich") college friends at somebody's very luxe "second home". Their "media room" is bigger than our garage, and there is a private ski trail to the lifts. And the freezer is full of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, which they eat sitting in the outdoor hot tub with the view of the mountains. Maybe the dad can give Piomingo a job after he graduates.
So, what are your chores this fine Saturday? Besides cleaning the poo station?
LINK Even though they were in prison in their home country, authorities say four Mexican drug lords continued operating their vast operations from behind bars.
To stop them, Mexican officials extradited them to the United States, where officials from both sides of the border hope the move will deal a serious blow to their drug cartels.
The four drug lords, along with 11 other people who were extradited, made their initial court appearances in Houston federal and state court on Monday.
"This is a watershed event. Some of these people have been a threat to Mexico and innocent people throughout the hemisphere for a number of years," said White House drug czar John Walters.
LINK
According to an Associated Press report released late last week, Dr. Ron Paul (R-Tx) is contemplating a run for the presidency in 2008. He has filed papers in Texas allowing him to form an exploratory committee that can raise money.
LINK NEW HAVEN, Conn. --A burger battle is brewing between a Texas state legislator and the owners of Louis' Lunch, a restaurant established in 1895, where it has been claimed that the hamburger was invented
From the Capt. Renault "shocked" files,comes this:
LINK
Corporate interests representing liquor, construction, energy and insurance companies - many with business before the state - will provide $1.4 million for Gov. Rick Perry's daylong inaugural festivities.
From the parade and barbecue to the glittery black-tie ball, a host of big-dollar benefactors is footing the bill for much of Tuesday's celebration.
