Burnt Orange Report

Help Texas Democrats Take Back The Lege

By Andrew Dobbs

For the remainder of the special legislative session, 21 days, the Texas Democratic Party will be raising $181 a day. In case you didn't do the math yourself, that equals $1 for every legislator every day of this special session. We need your help in raising this money, and every little bit helps.

Rick Perry has called the session and it will almost certainly be the fourth time in a row that the legislature has failed on school finance. Democrats came within one vote of passing their own school finance plan, one that had more money for schools, more tax relief for home owners and fewer headaches for educators. We came one vote short: let's make sure we don't have to worry about the margin next time around. We need to elect more Democrats and it won't happen without your help.

Either click on the link above, or copy and paste https://www.onlinecontribution.com/tdp/ into your browser. Every penny will help us rebuild our party from the ground up all across this state. We can win some big ones in 2006, but we'll need your support if we are going to do it. I know this is a bit more cheesy than the typical BOR fare, but this is an important time for the state party.

Thanks for the money, and have a great day!

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

By Drew Clinton

The belated nature of my first post owes much to the frenetic pace of the Special Session. So, I'll take this time to offer my most cordial greetings to you all. It is truly an honor and privilege to write for this most prestigious blog. I hail from the edges of Dallas County on the far fringes of suburbia. Somewhere past the familiar string of Mesquite, Plano, Richardson, and Garland lies a smaller town, Rowlett, that I am proud to call home. My adolescence was shaped by my family, faith, and convictions, which along with my last name (Clinton) led me to an early involvement with the Democratic Party.

I have continued to involve myself in Austin through an ongoing internship with Representative Richard Raymond (Webb County-District 42). Through this opportunity, I have been able to immerse myself in South Texas politics, border issues, and the legislative process. I remain active in the United Methodist Church in Austin and tend to view social and economic issues as part of my larger faith based philosophical framework. The basic preservation of human dignity should be a motivating force in the political arena.

I think that we must continue to be mindful of how policy translates into progress for American families. I remain a firm critic of the "waste of time" politics that have dominated the Texas and National Republican Party's agendas in recent years.

I am currently researching the effects of CAFTA on human rights in Central America and employment opportunities in the United States. I find that economic populism and protectionism offers the Party a chance to reclaim a large sector of the working class that has been alienated by the unholy alliance of the Republican Party with Big Business conglomerates.

I will gladly offer my prognostications and opinions on current Texas politics over the upcoming months. I welcome suggestions and questions as they arise. Hopefully, we can grow together as a community and individuals. Feel free to drop me a line, should that you need anything.

I Am Marcus

By Marcus Ceniceros

Hey friends, this is Marcus Ceniceros. I am proud to be one of the five new additions to Burnt Orange Report. Born in San Antonio, raised in El Paso, and now at school in Austin, I have seen Texas from many different perspectives and look forward to sharing my thoughts on government and politics with you.

When I arrived at UT two years ago, all of my community activities revolved around service projects. Growing up, I never really identified myself with a party, nor did I follow politics as much as some of the other writers here have. I have always admired government and know that without good, rational, unprejudiced public policy the people who need and deserve the most help will never receive it.

I joined University Democrats my freshman year and became very involved in the UT and Austin community. At the end of the year, I was elected president of the oldest, most respected political organization on campus. (I still get chills to know that great public servants like Lloyd Bentsen, Bruce Elfant, and of course, Byron LaMasters are past presidents.)

My time as president was amazing. Our members cared so much about our causes, worked hard to register over 7,000 voters, came together to host an amazing forum with Senator John Kerry, strengthened the UDems legacy on campus, and most importantly became friends that stood up for each other’s rights, just like our lawmakers should. One of my proudest moments was when we were named UT’s “Most Outstanding Student Organization” in front of thousands of people at Texas Revue.

Throughout these two years I have turned to Burnt Orange for important information about our community. I hope to help continue these conversations with all of you and inspire more people to become involved. Y espero que pueda alentar a personas que no han sido implicadas en la política previamente. (I hope to inspire people who have not been previously involved in politics.)

Please let me know if you ever need anything. Best-

Reports from the Dem-osphere.

By Jim Dallas

To put it bluntly, my expectations have been pretty low when it comes to the Legislature actually passing a good plan for school finance reform, so if it seems like I'm behind the curve on this - I am. That said, if you haven't heard about this or read about iton one of these fine blogs the Democratic alternative plan came within one vote of passing yesterday, with 12 Republicans crossing over and forcing Speaker Craddick to break the tie in then name of opposition to sanity and progress. The House ended up passing HB2 instead, which will now head off to the Senate.

Meanwhile, I finally had an opportunity to be in the same room with Sue Lovell last night, who is running for Houston City Council place 2. Unfortunately, I didn't attend the last Harris County YD meeting, at which Lovell's fellow-candidate Jay Aiyer spoke. Although I am pretty impressed with Lovell's platform, I am still undecided in this race, largely because I've come to learn over the last year that Houston is just, let's face, a tremendously strange place, sort of like Oz.

50cc's of "adjustment so that they're not losing their purchasing power," stat!

By Jim Dallas

To: Rep. DeLay
From: BurntOrangeReport.com
Re: purchasing power

The purchasing power of the minimum wage has fallen by over fifteen percent since 1997, the last time y'all gave poor folks a raise.

A Day In The Life of a Democracy-on-the-March

By Jim Dallas

Let's tune into Google News to see how things are going.

June 28, ca. 22:00 GMT (01:00 June 29, Egyptian time) - The United States House of Representatives rejects an amendment to cut military aid to Egypt. The amendment was offered by House Democrats concerned about Egypt's human rights record.

June 29, ca. 14:00 GMT (17:00 Egyptian Time) - Ayman Nour, the main opposition candidate, is put on trial on allegedly trumped-up charges of forgery.

June 29, ca. 15:00 GMT (18:00 Egyptian Time) - Egypt's highest court throws out the referendum, passed by over 80 percent of Egyptian voters, which would have permitted more than one presidential candidate to stand for election. The likely result is that President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981, will be unopposed (again) for re-election in September.

Chris Bell Rails Against Tutition Deregulation

By Damon McCullar

According to today's Houston Chronicle:

Texas A&M University students will pay 12 percent more to attend classes this fall, continuing a statewide trend of escalating tuition rates. Students will pay $137 per semester hour, up from $122.50 a year ago. The increase should generate about $12.5 million for the flagship College Station campus, officials said. Soaring costs have alarmed students and parents since the Texas Legislature deregulated tuition rates in 2003. Some lawmakers sought to regain control of tuition during the session that ended last month, but their efforts failed.

Today former Congressman Chris Bell, who is exploring a run for governor, says that tutition deregulation has failed Texas.

“When tuition rises four times faster than inflation, we need to admit that tuition deregulation has failed,” said Bell. “One of my top priorities as Governor will be to put that genie back in the bottle. There is no better economic development program in the world than higher education, and the moms and dads in Texas deserve a Texas Governor who gets it.”

On Jun. 22, 2003, Rick Perry signed HB 3015, deregulating college tuition after lobbying for it. Since then, tuition at state colleges and universities has risen at alarming rates. In 2003, the tuition at the University of Texas at Austin rose 37 percent, the highest jump of any school in the country according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Rick Perry says he balanced the budget without raising taxes. Well, he balanced it all right. He balanced it on the backs of every mom and dad who’s struggling to send their kid to college, not to mention the students taking out huge loans just to pay for Rick Perry’s balanced budget. Tell them that the largest tuition increase in the country isn’t a tax increase,” said Bell.

But never fear, prepaid tuition plans are here...
...but 2003 Carole Keeton Strayhorn suspended the program "for the foreseeable future … to safeguard the plan's financial integrity."

So now what?

Another Member of the BOR Family...

By Phillip Martin

"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe…"
"Across the Universe" by The Beatles

I've spent most of the morning trying to write this first post, and I can see, now, that my biggest challenge as a writer will be to keep my words from slipping away into the universal abyss of the internet.

I want what I say to mean something. I want to open up the mind's of those who are resigned to believe that nothing's going to change their world. Passionate persuasion -- that's my gig, because the devil's in the details, but our faith's in what we feel. Our faith asks us to be honest with ourselves, and share what we believe with those we can get to listen.

My faith comes from many places. I'm a Catholic, and I still play guitar for my church's choir. My mom teaches math at a charter school here in Austin, and my dad is a political consultant who works with Democratic legislators and candidates, party organizations, and teachers. My first job was at the best political communications company in town, Message, Audience & Presentation, where I helped edit and research direct mail pieces for the primary and general election campaigns of many of the freshmen Democrats.

To steal from my first boss, "the 'art' of political communication…is about connecting a candidate who is less known than they think, to a voter who cares less than we like to believe." Our job, then, as people who are interested in politics and who are committed to improving the lives of others, is to find a way for our words to convey our feelings of faith in a way that captures, convinces, and challenges our audience.

So that's where I'm coming from. My life experiences have shown me that our faith comes from our family, and our family have the biggest impact on the direction of our lives. Knowing this, I look forward to working with my newest family, the BOR crew, and bringing everyone the latest news and ideas about Texas politics.

Howdy Folks!!

By Damon McCullar

First, I would like to thank the academy...er...I'm Damon McCullar and I'm reporting for...er..no..

Let me start by giving you folks a big howdy from East Texas. People often ask me what part of Texas I'm from, and I usually respond "East Texas". Without fail they go on to ask "What part". To that I say "Mt. Pleasant, Texas" and after about thirty seconds of a blank stare as they desperate try to recall all the cities in East Texas they've been to, I say "It's on I-30 about 100 miles east of Dallas". Then I get a knowing nod and the subject is dropped. I graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School way back in '96. Please don't give me any comments like "Wow, I was in 4th grade back in '96", I've heard them all. After a couple of semesters of community college I join the US Navy. I had a great time, learned a lot and saw even more. After living on the east coast for 8 years, (I've been to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia...Argh!) I got the opportunity to come back to Texas and it's the best decision I ever made...

...I'm now a physics major at the University of Texas. I'm a senior, and I will be for awhile. I've been very active in the University Democrats over the last semester. I was co-chair of the GLBT lobbying committee last semester and pending conformation (please no filibusters folks) I will be the co-chair for the Issues Committee in the fall. I have just finished interning for the Jennifer Kim for Austin City Council campaign and I am now interning for the Chris Bell for Texas Governor Exploratory Committee and also interning for Congressman Lloyd Doggett's district office here in Austin. I look forward to writing for Burnt Orange Report and thank the staff for the confidence they have shown in me.

Intention to Resign

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

It's not every day that we get to report on major scoops here on the Burnt Orange Report, but if an unnamed source under the Dome is correct as we are prone to believe, then this is one of those scoops.

Chatter has it that University of Texas-Austin President Larry Faulkner called the capitol today to give people the heads up that tomorrow, Thursday, he is planning on announcing his intention to resign his office.

Faulkner just recently selected Juan Gonzalez, outgoing Vice President of Student Affairs at Arizona State, to be the replacement for Dr. James Vick, outgoing VP of Student Affairs at UT-Austin. The Vice President selection process has not been with out its own controversies and withdrawn candidates documented here, here, here, and here.

Stay tuned to BOR for any developments on this story. If you have information denying or further confirming this post, contact me.

Statistics are not on Bush's Side

By Katie Naranjo

Current polls show public opinion of the war in Iraq is not as supportive as previous months. 53% of Americans feel that sending troops to Iraq was a mistake and 51% of the Americans want a timetable set for troops to arrive back home. The reason for President Bush’s speech tonight is probably because 61% of Americans feel that he does not have a clear plan and is also not handling the Iraq situation well. These numbers have jumped since earlier polling in February from the low 40’s to low 50’s and 60’s. This signals a need for change in military and republican policy. Hopefully we will see a blue Whitehouse in 2008 and a large turnover of house seats in 2006.

Adios MoFo

By Katie Naranjo

Rick Perry's sign-off last week from an interview with KTRK elevated him to the ranks of today's most mature high school freshmen. During an interview with KTRK reporters over his new education plan Gov. Perry let the media know how he felt about their prodding questions over his proposed education finance plan.

As a college sophomore, I thought I'd grown past the point in my life where I would run into people trying to act cool using a phrase like "adios mofo." Like a lot of Texans, I was certainly hoping for a little more out of the man in charge of fixing the education system here in our state. If Perry would really like to reach out to Texas children, he might want to fund education first and then worry about how to relate to kids. Just a suggestion, but if he wants to get college kids on his side, he might want to work on grants and financial aid, tax-free textbooks, and tuition re-regulation instead of practicing his frat house banter. And if it's the high school or younger crowd that he was trying to reach out to, maybe his time would be better spent giving teachers a pay raise or providing computers in classrooms.

Thanks to Perry's interesting use of the English language I am sure students all over the state of Texas will look at their governor in admiration as they hope for school funding and his term to end.

Update on the Communist Terror

By Jim Dallas

Somewhat serendipitously, I have before me a very recently decided case from the Third Court of Appeals (Whittington v. City of Austin, Texas Cause No. 03-03-00496-CV, decided June 8, 2005) which suggests that Texas law is already somewhat less deferential to eminent domain seizures than the standard applied by the Supreme Court last week in Kelo v. City of New London.

Again - the federal standard is a bare-minimum. In Whittington, the Third Court of Appeals reversed an inverse condemnation of some property in downtown Austin on the grounds that the City of Austin failed to demonstrate why it needed to take the property (according to the opinion, the City later claimed that the land would be used for Austin Energy and a parking garage).

The two cases are not directly comparable, but is useful for illustrating the point I asserted earlier - that Texas, and for that matter, any state, can take independent steps to protect property owners.

While it still doesn't protect property rights per se, current Texas law does at least provide a check on "corrupt" public officials by permitting a public vote. In Freeport, petitions are circulating regarding the city's attempts to condemn property the city wants to turn into a marina.

That's great. Of course, though, I worry that an anti-Kelo backlash in Texas will inspire an unwise reaction. After all, if Rush Limbaugh is beating the drums of war...

Update on the Update: Kuff that the up-to-datest up-diddly-date!

Oh Canada!

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Tonight at around 9 pm CST, the Canadian Parliament will likely approve Equal Marriage Rights legislation to bring the nation in line with court orders in 8 of its 10 provinces. After approval from the Liberal Party dominated Senate, Canada would become the 3rd nation in the world to permit gay marriages after Belgium and the Netherlands (though Spain is moving towards this position as well).

Canada's more relaxed stance on gay marriage and other social issues stands in contrast to that of the United States, where President George W. Bush wants Congress to back a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriages.

"What it says is that ... we understand pretty well that the biggest challenge that all of us have is to try to find ways of getting along, of understanding the other person," Social Development Minister Ken Dryden told reporters on Tuesday...

Some Liberal lawmakers say they fear they will be punished by voters at the next federal election, expected early next year. Conservative leader Stephen Harper says opposing gay marriage will form a major part of his election platform.

But Harper's stance could also be risky, since the Liberals won elections in 2000 and 2004 in part because they were able to portray their right-wing rivals as extremists who would hack away at civil rights if elected.

So refreshing to have a country that views right-wing extremists that hack away at civil rights as a bad thing instead of leadership material.

State of the Blog

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Good morning readers.

As we have undergone these transitions in ownership I would like congratulate the Burnt Orange People for their cooperation and unwavering commitment to us. It's Hard Work being in the position I am, but I welcome it because together we will build a better, safer, freer blog.

Unfortunately, some things have not gone quite as planned. Certain target dates were not always met, and certain missions were not accomplished when we thought they were. But we do have some things to be proud of. Elections, though delayed, are now complete in the first free referendum Burnt Orange Reporters have participated in to elect a new set of writers.

There are challenges ahead but we will make it through with perseverance. Our newly elected writers will enjoy a new website within the next two weeks. Our planned withdrawal from the old site has been delayed due to unforeseen infrastructure problems that occurred in implementing the new one. We have a special operations tech man on the job who was given a no-bid contract by myself. He has agreed with me, that the direction in which we were headed was fraught with bugs and PHP peril. I may have to borrow some funds against expected revenues for the short term, but it is an investment we must afford to pay if we are all to benefit from a new, more stable Burnt Orange Report.

I ask you to bear with us and soldier on as we have been for just a couple more weeks.

Good day. And may the power of the Internet be with you.

P.S. Please join me in welcoming our new recruits.

Additions to our Burnt Orange Family

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Long awaited and greatly anticipated, I'd like to introduce to you the five newest members of our Burnt Orange Reporting Team. They will soon have logins and will each be posting a welcome message and biography in the coming days.

Immediate Past President of the University of Texas Democrats, Marcus is well known in the University community and Travis County Democratic Politics. With vast connections to elected Austin officials and first hand experience leading our organization to Most Outstanding of the Year, Marcus will help to fill the void of the other President Emeritus on this blog, Byron.

He hails from El Paso, where he was Editor-in-Chief of his high school paper which had a 7 year run as the number one high school paper in the state. Marcus brings a huge asset to BOR and Texas Blogs in his ability to report first hand on El Paso politics. Originally added as a writer earlier this year though he never posted, he was the first Burnt Oranger of Color, breaking into what has been a white male dominated field. We are thrilled to welcome him back.

Originally from Rowlett outside of Dallas, Drew now is a third year Anthropology and Plan II major here at UT. He was raised on the notion of loyalty to the Democratic Party and “will die a Democrat”. He is continuing an internship with State Representative Richard Raymond from Laredo, giving him insight into border issues that are often ignored in the Texas Blogosphere, as well as South Texas connections and good relations with various editors of Texas publications. In past summers, Drew has interned with the Dallas County Democratic Party and the Jim Nickerson campaign, giving him experience with our Party in some of the most Urban portions of Central Dallas to the very rural fringe of Webb County.

Drew has a great interest in Mexican and European politics and international trade in particular. He believes the expansion of neoliberal trade policy through CAFTA deserves a greater share of our discussion as Democrats. This summer he is working on University Of Texas Professor Dr. Robert Woodberry's project, Spiritual Capital, which seeks to examine the impact of Christian missions on nonwestern societies - particularly on health, education, economic development, women's rights, ethnic conflict, colonial and foreign policy, and post-colonial political democracy.

Phillip, a Plan II / English Senior here at UT, has been living in Austin his entire life. Also of Hispanic heritage, we are glad to bring him on board with his experience working at Message, Audience, and Presentation, a political communications company. In those years, he helped edit direct mail for Abel Herrero, Veronica Gonzales, Yvonne Gonzalez-Toureilles, and Marc Veasey's primary and general election campaigns as well as doing research and fact-checking mail for Congressman Lampson and Stenholm’s campaigns.

With a parent that consults for the Party and his current work in the Texas Legislature, we are happy to add Phillip to our team. We can always use help keeping up with the latest Democratic Politics under the dome and the goings ons of our rural Democratic issues and politicians.

Having grown up in Mt. Pleasant, Damon is now 27, and physics major at UT. Damon is an outspoken Democrat and eight year veteran of the United States Navy, a powerful combination that we are lucky to have here at BOR. He started the Burnt Orange Digest in honor of this blog. He may be one of our older writers, but that hasn’t kept him from staying involved in Austin politics after his first year at The University. He is currently interning in Congressman Lloyd Doggett’s district office and worked tirelessly on the Jennifer Kim campaign for Austin City Council. He is now in conversations with the Chris Bell for Governor Committee.

Damon headed up the UDems GLBT Issues Committee’s fight against hate in the Texas Legislature this session, a tall order for anyone. He was key in gauging where our Democratic Senators stood on HJR 6 as well as lobbying them at the Capitol. He also organized the "Hate is Not a Texas Value" protest in the House Gallery which got front page coverage in the Daily Texan.

Originally from Houston, John recently graduated from UT as a History major at the age of 23. As self described 'left of center progressive who consistently votes Democratic' John has interned for some of the more liberal members of the Texas House including Rep. Lon Burnam of Fort Worth and Rep. Anchia of Dallas, and may become one of the more progressive voices here on BOR. John has some journalism background, having written articles for Znet and the independent UT student publication ISSUE, as well as having been a former columnist for the Daily Texan.

John was a member of UT Watch for 3 years where he worked on two major issue campaigns, one against UT’s bid for Las Alamos National Laboratory as well as the campaign against tuition deregulation. He has also conducted research into the UT System budget, university research projects, histories of UT student activism, UTIMCO investments, and UT System lobbying. He served with me in this past Spring’s Student Government election debate panel for KVR-TV and is also active in Student Government issues, bringing an additional UT oriented political voice to this blog.

Congratulations to each of you and welcome to the Burnt Orange Family. You will be receiving your log in information within 24 hours.

A Conversation with PD

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Because I have nothing better to post as I work on the new site, I provide this entertainment for your pleasure. Really, I love all the Texas blogs, but I love where this went.

PinkDomeTX : bloggers are supposed to be sexy.
BOR: well you most certainly are
BOR: you have style
PinkDomeTX: at least i like to portray that image as opposed to dorks in front of a computer with conspiracy theories!
BOR: hahah
BOR: you and INPT bug me a lot you know
BOR: here we are, Texas bloggers, trying to make a respectable living off of rumor laden news and being the tipsters of texas
BOR: and you two have to come along with your capitol snarkiness and photo editing skills
PinkDomeTX: bwahahaha
BOR: stealing all our traffic, no, not stealing it, using us to promote you and then end up with 3 times as much as we have
PinkDomeTX: haha
BOR: making me have to deal with BOR writers that ask, can we have more pictures on the new site?
PinkDomeTX: HAHAHAHAHA
BOR: I WILL NOT CAVE
BOR: we are SO TOTALLY going to corner you on the RESPECTABLE JOURNALISM front
PinkDomeTX: respectable journalism? EW
BOR: Just you wait, when I lay out the new BOR 3.0 Media Relations Team, we are going to be having to get extra phone lines to handle all the reporters calls.
BOR: Shut you down, out of service, run out of the capitol.
PinkDomeTX: well just talk about gay sex. that will work!
PinkDomeTX: eh. i've got a real job. and I hate politics. i'd still write PD if only three people were reading
BOR: Yeah, well be prepared for that, after the BOR onslaught!

Do blogs have personalities? Sure they do. Though I think BOR will have a nice case of schizophrenia when we increase to 13 writers.

Justices Rule On First Round of Commandment Cases

By Andrew Dobbs

The first of two decisions expected today on the constitutionality of displaying the Ten Commandments in public buildings came down. The Washington Post is reporting that the Kentucky case, which involved the display of the Decalogue in two county courthouses was ruled to be unconstitutional. The majority opinion by Justice David Souter noted, in part, the "predominantly religious purpose" of the display.

No word yet on the Texas case, but many are suprised that the two decisions were split. Keep tuned to BOR for your Supreme Court news.

UPDATE: The ruling went the other way in the Texas case. The Court ruled 5-4 that the monument on the Capitol grounds did not violate the Constitution. The judgment in the other case was also 5-4, Sandra Day O'Connor provided the swing vote.

Important News

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I have important news. No, not the 5 new Burnt Orange Report writers that have now been selected after a long but thorough process. No, not the fact that the new site is nearly complete and nearing launch. More important than that, it’s made me break my traditional barrier to paying attention to any and all sports.

The Texas Horns has won its sixth title in the College World Series of Baseball.

Sometimes there isn’t much else to say except, Hook ‘Em.

Update: Damn you Jim! Making break my oath to be duplicative!

Horns win College World Series Championships

By Jim Dallas

w00t.

Domain Transfer

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

For those of you still reading tonight, we are going to be transferring the Burnt Orange Report domain from Byron to myself. Expect downtime throughout the night as it is released and recaptured.

Following that, we will be moving over the webmail accounts as well. Following that, we will be prepared to launch BOR 3.0 and deal with the ensuing uproar of 'OMG, this site is now dead' comments that I'm sure are awaiting me.

Once I get Katie and Vince's comments in tonight (fingers crossed) I'll be able to introduce our new writers, of which we now have 4 of the 7 that have been approved by the current Burnt Orangers. I've elected to wait until I can announce them all together, but I think the wait will have been worth it.

Austin Moving Forward Liveblogging

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Latinos for Texas is liveblogging the Austin Moving Forward Conference with George Lakoff and others. Check it out.

Air America Texas

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Just a reminder for those of you who want to know if Air America has a dial near you. The following are the current Texas Station, for full listings across the country go here.

Austin, TX - KOKE-AM 1600 AM

Corpus Christi, TX - KCCT-AM 1150 AM

Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX - KXEB-AM 910 AM

San Antonio, TX - KRPT-FM 92.5 FM

New Brunswick Extends Marriage Rights

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The Canadian Province of New Brunswick has ruled that marriage rights must be extended to it's gay citizens, after Judge Judy Clendenning found that the province's current definition of marriage violated their rights.

The ruling leaves P.E.I., Alberta, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories as the last jurisdictions in the country that do not recognize same-sex marriage.

It gives New Brunswick a 10-day grace period to get the new marriage definition into place.

Premier Bernard Lord has said he personally believes in the traditional view of marriage. But he said the province wouldn't put up a fight if the courts or Parliament ordered it to make a change.

I bold that last paragraph to highlight a difference between our Northern neighbors and the US governing party. They calmly state that they don't agree, but respect the ruling of the courts. Here, we state we disagree but attack the judicial system, attempt to strip it of powers, or change our constitutions to override them.

What a land we live in, eh?

Announcement Pending

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

With commentary and votes in from almost all of the BOR writers, save one and a half of another, we have 3 new Burnt Orange Reporters already selected out of the applicant pool. A couple others are teetering on the edge of approval as I await the final word. So I may be able to get the post out tonight after all for the whole crew. Otherwise I'll announce the first bunch and the others this weekend if there are more.

Then, next week I'm going to ask each of them to put together an introductory post for themselves so you can get to know them and their background. I, as well as the BOR team, have been very impressed with you as a community stepping up, engaging in our debates in the comments, e-mailing us tips, and even putting us on your press release list when we don't ask to be on it. :)

The other big news, not timed or inspired with the overhaul going on over at dKos, the Burnt Orange Report looks like it is set to become more of a community based site. That likely means letting go of Movable Type. It has served us well and helped grow this site to what it is today under Byron's leadership, from its beginning (when we moved to our current domain from livejournal) and what soon will be, not an end, but the close of a chapter.

I have a new platform in mind, (not Scoop, but similar and open source) but want to hear what you would like to see changed about site design, platform, user interface, tools, functionality, and how to better interact with that which is the Burnt Orange Report.

This land belongs to you and me... until the city condemns it to build a strip mall

By Jim Dallas

Lots of smart people (like Kuff) have already commented on the Supreme Court's ruling this week in Kelo v. City of New London. Unfortunately, I still haven't had a chance to read the opinions in full, or comment on them. Moreover, I'm still at work and can't type up a wonderful dissertation on Kelo right now. So let's get busy with the quickie hit-and-run rant:

(1) First of all, this is not an activist decision (I've already run into freepi who insist otherwise). Look, people, the Kelo majority, love it or hate it, is basing it's decision on judicial deference, not activism, when it continues to apply a threshold "rational relations" standard in assessing whether a taking is for a public use. Basically, they're saying they don't want to impose their judgment as nine black-robed judges on the states (and by extension, municipalities). After all the whining after Roper v. Simmons ("the tyrants are telling us not to fry seventeen year olds!!!!"), the Court finally throws a bone to the states rights crowd. Beggars can't be choosers, you know.

(2) That said, we're Texans, and if there's one thing we hate, it's France. If there's two things we hate, it's the French, and the government taking away our private property (do you realize hurricane evacuation orders were not mandatory in this state until just this last month?!?)

But of course, since we've still got our states rights, the Legislature can protect us from eminent domain abuse. Enter, stage right, Rep. Frank "All your uterus are belong to us" Corte (R - San Antonio), who is championing a constitutional amendment to protect our private property, insofar as by private property one does not mean "private parts."

Frankly, I have no idea how the proposed amendment relates to school finance, but I'm hopeful that it or something like it will prevent the Communist Terror from taking over Freeport.

(3) Finally, the incomparable SCOTUSBlog argues that Justice Kennedy's concurring opinion - which argued that eminent domain seizures where the "public use" is merely pretextual may not meet the rational relations threshold - should be interpreted as controlling. This will create a lot of work for land-use attorneys in the next few years. Luckily, I've been giving some thought to going into this field if I can survive another two years of school and pass the bar.

I love you Justice Kennedy!

Get your Grits

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Scott Henson over at Grits for Breakfest has some interesting comments from a panel hosted by Campaigns and Elections magazine. It's a good read so head on over there to read about blogs, blogging, and the fair use of them.

TAB Releases Direct Mail Content

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The Statesman reports that the Texas Association of Business (co-owner of the Texas Republican Party) has released the contents of it's multi-million dollar direct mail campaign for the 2002 elections after being ordered to do so by the Texas Supreme Court (owned by the Texas Republican Party).

For tactical reasons, Wood did not seek the identity of the corporate donors, avoiding a showdown over that issue — and whether the names are protected by the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of association — for now.

The association's answers, however, gave a glimpse of the scope of its mailing effort that touted Republican candidates and criticized their Democratic opponents.

The documents show 42 donations given to the association between February and November of 2002.

Some of the corporations might have given more than once, and their total contributions might exceed the single largest donation of $250,000.

The money came from both members and non-members of the business group. Fourteen of the 42 donations, including the $250,000 contribution, were from non-members. Three donations accounted for almost one-third of the $1.9 million spent on mailers.

Wood also noted that the total spent on mailers exceeded the association's $1.5 million budget. He argued that it shows the association was operating as a de facto political committee.

"It confirms our theory of the case," Wood said. "These answers clearly show large amounts of money were solicited from a small number of for-profit corporations."

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Keel Announces for Statewide Office

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Rep. Terry Keel, of HD 47 in Southwest Travis County, has officially filed his paperwork to run for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, setting the stage for a primary battle with incumbant Charles Holcomb.

An Austin lawmaker who was instrumental in the failure of a bill that would have given judges a pay raise said Friday he will run for a seat on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Republican Rep. Terry Keel said he is seeking the position currently held by Justice Charles Holcomb, a Republican.

Holcomb began his term with the court in 2001, and his term expires in 2006. His office said he will seek re-election.

The Court of Criminal Appeals is the state's highest court on criminal issues, and justices are elected by a statewide vote.

In a statement, Keel said he believes he can bring a unique background to criminal law, including his experience as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, sheriff and lawmaker.

Keel passed up a chance to run for a lower level, closer to come court such as the 3rd Court of Appeals anchored by Austin, where Democratic Justice Jan Patterson won by a few thousand votes last year and Democrat Diane Henson came up a few thousand short of gaining a seat. It would be a competitive district, but Keel probably recognizes that a Republican primary statewide would be easier. Plus, as competitive as the Governor's race may be, it is unlikely that Democrats will win any of the Statewide judicial seats, as they are more or less simply decided by the base vote of each party. Dems are gaining a point or two a cycle for those, but they are mostly out of reach for now.

Fine by me, it just opens up HD 47 for being a top tier target in Central Texas, where Dennis Speight, Gregg Knaupe, Son of Laney, Son of Earle, and probably others are all 'considering' it. If someone announces, please let us know in the comments.

DemFest Coverage

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

KUT, our radio station here, has an audio report on DemFest. There was also an Austin Chronicle and News 8 Austin report on it, located here.

Also, just to note, the Democratic nominee for CD 22 against DeLay is now 99% officially former Rep. Nick Lampson as Houston city councilman Gordon Quan has said he's not going to get in the race and is endorsing Lampson, who currently has a June fundraising "star" on his website.

Confirmation for HD 47 Challenger

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Quorum Report is a bit behind of us on this one, but has some background info to add to the mix.

Add Dennis Speight to the list of Democrats considering a run for Terry Keel's (R-Austin) soon to be open House seat.

Speight served as the finance director for the Partnership, an apparatus designed to help Democratic House members. Speight helped raise $1.3 million for the 2002 campaign. He now serves as the vice-chair for finance of the Texas Democratic Party. He also serves as Rep. Chuck Hopson's (D-Jacksonville) legislative aide. Speight was also president of the Texas Young Democrats for three years and has lived in the district for four years.

Over in HD 48 against Baxter, Democratic candidate Andy Brown is already starting to lob press releases at the incumbant. In addition, he's hired much of the campaign staff that he needs at this point as well as a top notch Austin fundraiser. The campaign staff met with one of the same tech people that met with John Courage this Wednesday. Look for integration of various components and coordination of technology and volunteers in HD 50, HD 48, and CD21. We're hoping to get HD 47's nominee into the same system, whomever that may end up being. So please don't tear each other aparty down there in a primary guys.

For whom does Chris Bell Toll?

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Chris Bell has a new Podcast up. Which give us an excuse to talk about the Governor's race on the Dem side. Comments heard by this BOReporter this week suggests that John Sharp is giving the race serious consideration.

Let the flame wars ensue. This is an Open Thread for the Governor's Race.

Eminently Important

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

First off, check out the story in yesterday's Daily Texan about the continuing efforts of the owners of Player's Restaurant to keep the University of Texas from using it's eminent domain powers to seize the land to make way for it's campus hotel and parking garage.

The petition to Save Players is located here and you can sign it at the actual location if you stop by. As the website says...

The University of Texas at Austin is intending on purchasing Player's and replacing it with a parking garage. Across the street, UT is purchasing the stripmall that includes IT Copy and Radio Shack. Apparently, we really need a hotel there.

IT Copy or Radio Shack- we care not about. The hotel could be a great thing for the campus. However, once they try to take away a Player's Combo with cheese and no tomatoes with a strawberry shake, The University has gone too far.

Of course, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 today in a case very closely related to this, the Kelo v. New London case. The New York Times has a good report on what happened. In short, the more liberal Justices upheld the taking of property by governmental authorities to redistribute, even to private developers, for demolition and redevelopment.

The majority concluded on Thursday that public use was properly defined more broadly as "public purpose." Justice Stevens noted that earlier Supreme Court decisions interpreting the public use clause of the Fifth Amendment had allowed the use of eminent domain to redevelop a blighted neighborhood in Washington, to redistribute land ownership in Hawaii and to assist a gold-mining company, in a decision by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1906.

"Promoting economic development is a traditional and long accepted function of government," Justice Stevens said, adding, "Clearly, there is no basis for exempting economic development from our traditionally broad understanding of public purpose."

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor objected that "the words 'for public use' do not realistically exclude any takings, and thus do not exert any constraint on the eminent domain power."

Justice O'Connor said, "Under the banner of economic development, all private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it might be upgraded."

Justice Stevens, examining the New London plan in light of the majority's general analysis, said the plan "unquestionably serves a public purpose," even though it was intended to increase jobs and tax revenue rather than remove blight.

...

Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony M. Kennedy and David H. Souter joined the majority opinion in Kelo v. City of New London, No. 04-108. Justice Kennedy also wrote a separate concurring opinion to emphasize that while there was no suggestion in this instance that the plan was intended to favor any individual developer, "a court confronted with a plausible accusation of impermissible favoritism to private parties should treat the objection as a serious one and review the record to see it if has merit."

On the opposite side is an interesting coalition, with whom I more closely agree, which I'm sure is one of the few cases in which I agree with the likes of Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist.

Justice O'Connor's dissenting opinion was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. She wrote that rather than adhering to its precedents, the court had strayed from them by endorsing economic development as an appropriate public use.

"Who among us can say she already makes the most productive or attractive use of her property?" Justice O'Connor asked.

She added: "The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall or any farm with a factory."

Both Justice O'Connor and Justice Thomas, who also filed his own dissent, said the decision's burden would fall on the less powerful and wealthy.

"The government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more," Justice O'Connor said. "The founders cannot have intended this perverse result."

Justice Thomas, who called the decision "far reaching and dangerous," cited several studies showing that those displaced by urban renewal and "slum clearance" over the years tended to be lower-income minority residents.

"The court has erased the Public Use Clause from our Constitution," he said.

It seems that the Conservatives and I are joined by Ralph Nader of all people. From his press release.

Hundreds of abuses of eminent domain have occurred during the last few decades, with municipalities playing reverse Robin Hood‚ taking from ordinary citizens and giving to powerful individual developers or corporations. In many cases, the alleged public benefit is a transparent cover for what amounts to legalized theft.

With today's decision, the Court has abdicated its role as guardian of the Constitution and individual rights. This decision authorizes courts across the country to allow self- defining misuses of "public use" and "public benefit" requirements.

So Austinites, Save Players. If for anything, to stand up for the little guy and greasy onion rings.

Land Commissioner set for Re-Election Bid

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

In the category of Great Shakes and Stunning Announcements comes Republican Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson's declaration that he's running for re-election and that he would "like to have an opponent." To which Mike Lavigne of the Texas Democratic Party responded, "He will".

Of course, who is still totally unknown continuing the TDP's strategy of "Mum is the Word" on what we are up to. Let's just home the word doesn't stay mum much longer. Any of you want to break your mumness in the comments?

No Primary Interest

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Hutchison didn't want to challenge Perry, this we all know. But the big question is why. We assumed that she felt she couldn't win the primary, or would damage the political capital that she has. The latter would have probably ended up true, but the Statesman shows us today that the former wasn't true at all.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison would have been a strong front-runner among likely Republican voters if she'd challenged Gov. Rick Perry one-on-one next year, according to a survey conducted by a firm hired by her campaign.

A memo summarizing the April survey and obtained by the Austin American-Statesman says that, at the time, about 59 percent leaned toward Hutchison, with 33 percent favoring Perry.

The numbers might dampen speculation that Hutchison avoided running against Perry out of concern that he'd steeled support among GOP activists. It likewise leaves in question why she didn't try and suggests that Perry has ground to cover with voters.

Only 15 percent of the surveyed voters said they would definitely re-elect Perry, though another 23 percent said they would probably prefer him over a new Republican.

So Perry isn't popular with voters, but for Perry not to be popular with Republican Primary type of voters by that kind of margin... that's something to give hope to the likes of Carol Keeton McClellan Rylander Strayhorn who can run on simply "not being Perry". While I still lean towards those that say Perry wins the primary due to his ownership of the base, I sincerely believe that as the Perry camp realizes how vulnerable it is, it will lash out negatively, harshly, and without forgiveness.

Oh, and there are rumors of none other than Lance Armstrong running for Texas Governor. Though not in 2006. Good thing, we wouldn't want the race to get any more weird than Perry, Carol 4-Names, Chris Bell, the Kinkster, and Jennifer Gale. And Sheryl Crow as first lady? Anita would throw a fit.

Democratic Education

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Let's not get all starry eyed and actually think that Democrats have any leverage in the State House as far as HB 2 and 3 go, but as was pointed out to us today by a faithful reader, Republican Rep. Anna Mowrey signed on to the Democratic Education Plan as a co-sponsor.

This comes a day after we heard rumors from the capitol that Perry is taking a gander at the Dem Plan even as he campaigns, I mean, takes his plan around the state. From a reader...

...word around the capitol today is that Perry has been in meetings w/ Hochberg and Democrats all day and may sign on to their school plan in order to win bipartisan points and win moderates and women back from Strayhorn. Plus, he wont get blamed as much if the whole thing goes down in flames.

If that were true, it would tickle us pink. But of course, Perry can take the time to tour around the state because the Lege isn't actually meeting, it adjourned on Tuesday within 45 minutes of opening until next Monday. Which should give Sen. Troy Fraser, my hometown Senator, some time to convince Perry to add Telecom Reform to the Special Session agenda, since he's already filed the legislation.

Yes, because restarting the Cable v. Telecom wars is the best thing one could think of proposing in order to stay focused on Education and Tax Reform. Well I guess Sen. Fraser just wants to make sure more people have a chance to see how miserable the Republican Party is at actual legislating these days.

Conservatives Have No Sense of Decency

By Andrew Dobbs

All the media have been atitter with Howard Dean's faux pas and Dick Durbin's statements on the House floor regarding Gitmo, yet it seems that the really horrific rhetoric is coming from the Right. Exhibit A was outlined yesterday, calling Democrats anti-Christian.

Exhibit B: Karl Rove:

Karl Rove came to the heart of Manhattan last night to rhapsodize about the decline of liberalism in politics, saying Democrats responded weakly to Sept. 11 and had placed American troops in greater danger by criticizing their actions.

"Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers," Mr. Rove, the senior political adviser to President Bush, said at a fund-raiser in Midtown for the Conservative Party of New York State. (...)

Told of Mr. Rove's remarks, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, replied: "In New York, where everyone unified after 9/11, the last thing we need is somebody who seeks to divide us for political purposes."

Yeah, Rove, we were such wusses when it came to 9/11. Sure there were some elements of the rather far-Left that wanted to enter into quiet introspection, but there are some elements of the far-Right which claim that you flew the planes by remote control for some crazy conspiracy purpose. Both were wrong, and when the votes were cast on what we should do, every Congressional liberal but one voted to go to war. Wrap your mind around that-- Bernie Sanders, Sheila Jackson Lee, Dennis Kucinich-- they all voted to go to war. Rove repeats the blood-libel against liberals that we are weak against terror and it is shameful. He should either apologize or resign.

Exhibit C: The Truth About Hillary Clinton, a new rag from conservative imprint Sentinel by hack Ed Klein. Among its more vile accusations is that because Hillary Clinton is actually a "radical lesbian" she and Bill never had sex, so he raped her in order for them to conceive a child. I'm sure most of you have heard this before now, but now Rush Limbaugh and Peggy Noonan are arguing that the whole book is part of a Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. What a bunch of despicable people.

Exhibit D: "Adios, MoFo." Turns out our lovely governor felt the need to lob a 9th grade half-assed vulgarity at a Houston reporter for daring to ask about the details of the school finance plan Perry was about to foist upon us. Perry claims he was just joshing with his press secretary, but watch the video-- it is pretty clear that he was bitching about the reporter. Now, I say the full-fleshed version of that particular word quite frequently, but I've never done it on television. This ranks below the other three, but still betrays the right's vicious rhetoric.

In the end it is all about a lack of decency. The whole political culture is infused with hate, but the GOP adds in the lovely tactic of fear-mongering. I'll be the first to say that shrill Democratic rhetoric pisses me off. I find Daily Kos unreadable for the most part nowadays because it is just a non-stop hatefest it seems. But the GOP has the same shrillness and throws in a vicious dose of perdition and demagoguery.

Liberals call Bush a war-monger liar, conservatives called Clinton the same thing but also claimed that he was a murderer, a rapist, a Communist spy traitor and everything else under the sun. Liberals will whine on about the rather underwhelming Downing Street memo, but Republicans call Democrats Christian-hating Osama Lovers who want to burn flags. The fact of the matter is that the really atrcious stuff is coming from them, and unless we do something NOW, the rhetoric could turn into something far worse.

Soechting is NOT Resigning

By Andrew Dobbs

Sometimes on here I put up a little disclaimer saying that I do not speak for the Party, the Chairman, the Staff or Officers of the Texas Democratic Party. Today that is unnecessary, because I am speaking as a staffer for the Texas Democratic Party and a friend of Charles Soechting, its Chairman.

Apparantly Houston Democrats and Greg's Opinion are reporting that Texas Democratic Party Chairman Charles E. Soechting is resigning as Chairman. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE. I talked to Charles yesterday, talked to our Chief of Staff about 2 minutes ago and have talked to the Chairman's personal assistant. He is still the Chairman, he will be the Chairman until June of 2006 and he is planning on running for reelection at the convention at that point. Charles will serve out his entire term, and he is in perfect health.

I won't name any names, but I will say that it seems that some Craddick Ds are the ones who got this whole rumor started in the hopes of making it come true. This session Democrats have been more disciplined and more poised to take back the state than any time in recent memory. All of this boils down to the fact that our leadership has finally been gutsy enough to stand up to powerful Democrats who have a bad habit of selling out the party. Charles Soechting has become one of the most respected state chairman in the country as a result, and he’s not going anywhere when we are closer than ever to our ultimate goal.

So just as a recap-- Charles Soechting is still the Chairman, will be the Chairman for the next year and will, barring some unseen and dramatic event, be running for another term as Chairman. To those who'd rather have someone who will stay quiet in the face of DINOism, I'm sorry to disappoint.

The Rick Perry Remix

By Jim Dallas

Yeah, you guessed it, I was bored and playing with multimedia nonsense again.

Visit the Rick Perry Remix.

And of course, those graphic artistes down at Pink Dome have put together a nice shirt.