September 2010 Archives

"I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news. She just smiled and turned away."Our political system is broken. On one side, Republicans block everything up to and including marine mammals rescue assistance and shark conservation acts. On the other side, Sir Robin and his minstrels, tails tucked firmly between legs, can't run away from D.C. fast enough to avoid a vote on whether or not to extend...

Note: This piece is very philosophical in nature, so please excuse my ramblings.I was having a discussion the other day on another site when another poster decided to throw out the old "you're a socialist" line. As much as I love labels it saddened me in another way. Sure, polite discourse would seem to have gone by the wayside and the fact that socialist was misspelled also was disconcerting. More disconcerting was the fact that...

The League of Women Voters of the Houston Area and the Harris County Department of Education are hosting a debate for our Texas Governor's Race.This debate will be held at 6PM Sunday, October 3 at the Harris County Board of Education building located at 6300 Irvington Boulevard in Houston.(Above--Incumbent Governor Rick perry refuses to debate this year. I think the League should set up an empty chair for the Governor. Above you see a Saddle Chair.  Maybe the...

The Clayton Williams story is a simple one. He was destined to be governor of the great state of Texas. He held a sizeable lead over Ann Richards a week before the election. The only thing that could have stopped him is what eventually happened. He was being interviewed when someone asked him his opinions on rape. He said women should, "sit back, relax, and enjoy it." The rest is as they say, history. Fastforward...

At the request of the Department of Interior, the National Academy of Engineering formed a special committee to study the causes of the blowout of BP's Mississippi Canyon Block 252 well, dubbed Macondo.  The investigation of the blowout started in June, but news was made yesterday as the committee publicly interviewed members of BP's internal investigation team for the first time, as well as other parties.  You'll recall that BP's report, described by drilling contractor...

... but there is truth in fiction. I had the chance to "pleasure read" for the first time in a while, and was encouraged to read a book by an author I had never read before. It was a good, suspenseful book, but I came across a particular passage that really resonated. In this passage, a media personality was interviewing a journalist and made a statement alleging that the Swedish economy was headed for...

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."--James Madison, often referred to as the father of that antiquated, outdated, document known as the Constitution of the United States, which is now little more than an a la carte menu.When the president of the United States has the power to order the assassination of an American citizen suspected of terrorist activities but charged with no...

The so-called King Street Patriots, a local Tea Party cell in Houston, care a lot about black people when they are dead. It is just the living ones that they don't worry so much about.The King Street Patriots are taking part in an effort to clean the Olivewood Cemetery in Houston. It's a campaign stunt by the Republican running against Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in the 18th Congressional district of Texas.Olivewood is a historic black cemetery in Ms....

Gutless. Spineless. Cowards."Senate Democrats said Thursday that they had abandoned plans for a pre-election showdown with Republicans over taxes, postponing any vote on extending Bush administration tax cuts until after the November midterms.Democrats discussed the issue during a caucus luncheon but left the final decision to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)"That was your first mistake, leaving it up to Sir Robin. "Late Thursday, Reid spokesman Jim Manley said, "We will come back in...

In 33 of the 36 midterm elections held since the end of the Civil War, the party in the White House has lost seats in the United States House of Representatives.We need to recall this as the 2010 midterm elections approach. There are underlying patterns in all things. This historical fact and pattern of midterm losses for the party holding the Presidency  is one that has impacted both major parties over many years.Beginning with 1866,...