Chronology Correction and Clarification Blogger Rob Booth, who has the advantage of living in Texas, corrects part of my chronology. By confusing the Texas House of Representatives with the U.S. House of Representatives, my post falsely gives the impression that the current U.S. Congressional districts were drawn up by the Legislative Redistricting Board, which has […]

DeLay Redistricting From this story in today’s Houston Chronicle: Almost 1 million blacks and Hispanics live in the districts of six Anglo Democratic congressmen who likely would lose re-election under the proposed Republican redistricting plan…And [Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio] said blacks and Hispanics in Galveston are taken out of [Democrat Nick] Lampson’s current […]

I’m a Democrat Via CalPundit, this fun quiz that, based on your responses to a series of questions, ranks candidates based how closely aligned their positions are to your answers. Kevin and I had fairly similar rankings (same top three) and we were both surprised to see Kucinic at the top of the list. But […]

Redistricting in Texas Post-publication note: this post contains inaccurate information about the Legislative Redistricting Board’s role in crafting U.S. Congressional districts, but I’m leaving it up to keep the record intact (I only edit grammar or make minor wording changes post-publication). The correction and clarification are here. What is going on now in Texas is […]

Government Information Awareness Inspired by Ashcroft’s TIPS plan to create dossiers on all Americans and to get you to spy on your neighbors, an MIT researcher has created the Government Information Awareness (GIA) program. Here’s the mission statement: To empower citizens by providing a single, comprehensive, easy-to-use repository of information on individuals, organizations, and corporations […]

The Party of Fiscal Responsibility Potential recallee Gray Davis has a plan to deal with California’s $38 billion deficit by raising taxes by $8b and reducing spending by $18b. In contrast, California Republicans want to deal with the revenue shortfall without raising taxes, preferring to instead cut unnecessary services (like kindergarrten!), increase borrowing, and basically […]

The Bait and Switch Program Seriously, there is a concerted effort to pull a major switcharoo on the American public by appending the word “program” to the phrase “weapons of mass destruction”. The latest example comes from Pat Roberts, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman (R-Kansas), in a CNN.com story titled “Senate intel chairman suggests proof coming […]

The Unemployment Circle is Almost Complete Bush II is inching closer and closer to the unemployment levels that Bush I attained, with unemployment now reaching a level not seen since 1994: Unemployment rose to 6.4 percent from 6.1 percent in May, the Labor Department said. That’s the highest level since April 1994. AB UPDATE: Via […]

Howard Dean Personally, I think the strongest team has John Edwards on top and Wesley Clark on bottom (a scenario now legal even in Texas). But I do enjoy watching Dean; he’s smart and passionate, and he accomplished two impressive feats: (1) raising more than any other candidate did last quarter, and (2) raising a […]

More Orcinus From Dave Neiwert’s latest installment from the soon to be published (in electronic form) essays on Rush, Newspeak, and Fascism: As the War on Terror, instead of combating the rise of fascimentalism, transforms itself into a War on Liberals; as conservatives increasingly identify themselves as the only “true” Americans; as Bush continues to […]