Burnt Orange Report

This is It: State of the Blog

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go, go, go
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

This is it folks. Over the night, Burnt Orange Report's domain will begin the process of pointing to our new home. Hopefully by the morning, you'll wake up to the next generation of Texas blogging. It's been a great run with over 2 years on Movable Type, but that era has come to an end, and the era of SoapBlox will soon begin. I hope you will all join us in this new venture, because the new site is for you, about you, for us as a Burnt Orange Democratic Community.

If you are using an RSS reader, please be sure to update it if you have not already to our Feedburner feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/BurntOrangeReport (if you were already on it, you shouldn't need to do a thing). Older site entries will be moved over in the next week or two as we transfer comments and posts. And I'll encourage ALL of you to create user accounts on the new BOR (which you'll need for commenting, Burnt Orange Journals, ratings, and beyond).

If you have problems or are having problems seeing the new site, refresh your browser, clear your cache, or give your computer a quick reboot. Until tomorrow...

The Week in Preview, Part II

By Phillip Martin

As an addendum to KT's post about what's going on at BOR this week, the 40/40 project is going to catch up on a few loose ends (and allow KT time to update the site) before launching our biggest feature of the year.

Today, I'll post the op-eds by Rep. Uresti and Sen. Madla (I received both over the weekend, so we'll go ahead and put them up today). Then, tomorrow and Wednesday, we'll take a look at Eric Beverly, another candidate who's running in HD 47. I previously featured Valinda Bolton and Jason Earle in this district, but Eric contacted me, asking to be featured. Though he doesn't have as much name ID as either Bolton or Earle, he is certainly a candidate with a great deal of legislative experience. He impressed me a great deal, and is someone everyone should know about.

Finally, next week's 40/40 will feature Bob Gammage and Chris Bell. We'll have an extensive interview we've conducted with each candidate, as well as an op-ed by each campaign. Be sure to stay tuned to the 40/40 for the latest coverage.

The Week in Preview

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

This week will be one of the bigger weeks in BOR history.

In the next couple of days, Burnt Orange Report will be proud to join over a dozen Texas Progressive blogs in the officially launch of the coordinated TEXAdS BlogAd network, giving campaigns and Texas advertisers the ability and ease to reach out to and communicate with readers and activists across the state.

With a target date of Wednesday, BOR v3.0 will go live, bringing the power of SoapBlox to the Texas blogosphere and a level of community interaction unavailable until now to the political chatter class here in the Lone Star State.

And while nationally we will have the SOTU address and possible filibuster of Scalito to make major headlines, the seeds of a grassroots movement were planted this past week and weekend which will quickly grow in the next few days. I can now officially confirm a post made by Matt 2 weeks ago that Glen Maxey may soon be an official candidate for State Party Chair. But to ensure that 'may' turns into a 'will' has been the discussion among certain Austinites this weekend, all of whom have have been thinking the same thing, that Texas is ready for Draft campaign...

Aside: See what happens when readers comment on posts? They end up on campaign sites? Now, can anyone tell me if you thought the interaction we have with our gubernatorial candidates this cycle would have been possibly after what we experienced in 2002?

Also, looks like Gammage has added Rep. Paul Moreno, Dean of the Texas House, as a supporter of his campaign, following last week's big splash with Gen. Wes Clark.

"Just as the Dirty 30 bonded long ago, we need to rally behind Bob Gammage," he said. "We were needed then, and we're needed now."

One thing I did not notice, but I think says a lot, is the fact that Bob Gammage joined Gen. Clark in Corpus Christi in support of Juan Garcia running against Rep. Seaman. Maybe I'm forgetful, but is that the first time a statewide candidate has been present at an event for a down ballot candidate without it being because one of them is having a press conference endorsing the other? (Support for other statewide Democrats doesn't count, but Gammage's presence and official support probably helped Bill Moody get some coverage, even on TV).

Dos Centavos apparently made it out to the Gammage/Clark fundraiser and had some words to say about that in this post.

Thank You: Open Thread

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

(Bumped for the design contest, if interested, leave a comment letting me know you are... -kt)

Earlier today I put out a call for donations to help move over to the next generation of Burnt Orange Report. I've finally had a chance to plow through the dozens of e-mails that have come into me from every angle. And I cannot thank you enough.

12 donors gave a total of $470 (avg $39 / donor)! That will more than cover our transition costs as well as sustained costs through the end of the year! And 11 of the 12 of you donated $25+ so I'll be sending the first 7 of you the location for logging in to grab those first BOR User Accounts (and if anyone declines, then I'll move through the list in order of payment made). Any extra funds may go towards an additional locally developed, integrated ad system which a fellow blogger has contacted me about. I'm excited, and you should be, too.

My next challenge to the Burnt Orange Community is for anyone that would like to try their hand at BOR logo. I'll offer up to $50 (and possibly an additional contract) for a finished design or conceptual ideas that lead to a design (thanks to the generosity of today's donors)!

Requirements include...
Width: 100-150 pixels
Height: 100-200 pixels
Include: Burnt Orange Report

Possible Colors: Burnt Orange, Black, White, Grays (others if they work)
Slogan: "News, Politics, and Fun from Deep in the Heart of Texas", "Liberally Biased", Create a New One
Themes/Images: Texas, Capitol, Nothing that Violates UT Trademarks/Copyrights

Now for that Open thread and such...

+ Pink Dome gets the Funny on.

+ Eye on Williamson County has a neat write-up that our rural readers can identify with, about not being the only Democrat in one's neighborhood.

+ Chris Bell opens up a Student Union section of his website. He's also picked up some endorsements from SDEC members which are a mixed bag. Some like Bill Perkison from SD 24 are trying to push for reform in the party, others like Dr. Dennis Teal from SD 3 (who is a prospective TDP Chair Candidate) are living in the past.

+ Bob Gammage has cleaned up his site some, and started expanding his Issues page. Wes Clark will be hosting a fundraiser and reception for him in Houston next Thursday. More info or to attend: click here.

Burnt Orange Report Version 3.0: Donate

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I figure that on today, my 5th Anniversary of personal blogging outside of Burnt Orange Report, I'd announce that in the next week, Burnt Orange Report will have a new look and new platform, taking Texas blogging to the next level at last. I have reached a deal with a developer whose work I first noticed last summer (when I abandoned plans to move over to a new system based on Xoops).

The new Burnt Orange Report will load faster, be less cluttered, and more importantly empower our community of readers to the level they deserve. There will be user accounts just like you'd find over at Daily Kos or MyDD. Users will be able to comment and rate each other and conversations will be threaded for viewing by all readers, allowing for true conversations to occur on posts. And in what I believe will be the greatest advancement for the Texas Blogosphere, I'll be proud to introduce "Burnt Orange Journals" where any registered user can now become a contributor to the site as you would at Kos or MyDD, with a recommend feature and promotion.

But all this wouldn't be possible without the hard work being carried out by the developer, and the MovableType converter being built specifically for us since BOR is the first MT based blog to come on board his project. If there is anything I am at heart a fan of, it's geeky tech projects that are in any way community oriented. Especially if they are being done by progressives, for progressives.

And because of that, I'm doing something that I rarely do, which is ask for donations from our readership to help cover the costs of this great leap forward.

I'm only looking for $200-$300. But as a bonus, I'll give donors the option of creating the first low ID user accounts right there with our Front Page writers, getting a sneak peak at what we are building, even as I'm working on completing the design and controls!

SPECIAL HONOR: Donors giving $25+ will receive one of the 7 remaining single digit User IDs.

Best of Austin, Again

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I don't think I could ask for a better present on this day of my 21st birthday. The Austin Chronicle has come out with the 2005 Best of Austin awards and Burnt Orange Report has been honored with the Best Local Blogger in the readers poll!

Hat tip to PinkDome on earning a tie with us in that category and for filling our shoes as we vacated the Best Local Political Blog spot which BOR earned last year. Heck, cheers again for us being mentioned as a runner-up in that category alongside In The Pink Texas and Grits. Which brings me to give congrats to ITPT for garnering the critics poll Best "Blushing Blog" spot.

So for a second year in a row, I think our BOR crew has proven to be your best source for much of the state's happenings, keeping an eye (or a couple of dozen of eyes) on the State of Texas. Our traffic has continued to grow beyond what we thought might have been a peak with last year's election. Thanks to Byron, Jim, and Andrew who were the crack writing team that got this whole project started and for bringing me on board as a bright eyed freshman, and thanks to every writer since then, all of whose voices make BOR the reporting engine that it is. And lastly, you the readers, our biggest critics, and the reason why we do this. Thanks for making us the Best of Austin once again. With your support, we'll be sure to stay that way!

Now the clips...

Best Local Blogger

Tie: Burnt Orange Report & PinkDome

Ooh, snap! That's right, they said it! Pink Dome and Burnt Orange are often so sharp and critical, it is actually possible to hear our Guvna' cringe all the way from Lavaca. Establishing themselves as the pre-eminent Austin-based anti-red state blogs, they're helping to keep the Capitol accountable and the rest of us well-informed.

Local Political Blog

PinkDome

It's time to polish the Dome. Thanks to their staff of writers, their eponymous head, Bluebonnet, and Rawhide, PinkDome has, in short time, become one of Central Texas' most popular political blogs, taking the Republican piss with their salacious, slanderific prose. And don't get us started on their clothing line and "Adios, Mofo" gear. The Dome, and for that matter, all her stellar runners-up (Burnt Orange Report, In the Pink, Grits for Breakfast), makes us recall a quote from that lone star populist Molly Ivins "Good thing we've still got politics in Texas, finest form of free entertainment ever invented."

Blushing Blog

In the Pink

InThePinkTexas.com or "Politics on the Lege of Reason," gives an insider's view to the goings-on at the state Capitol and beyond. Eileen Smith's blog is controversial, often offensive, mostly nonpartisan, and totally thought-provoking. The photos and text are updated many times a day, and a loyal group of commentators keeps the conversation going beyond the daily installments.

There are a ton of really great standouts in this year's BOA awards, a couple are listed below, though I'm incredibly proud of my State Representative, Carter Casteel, for her critic’s poll award!

Bipartisan Kids Legislator

Rep. Cartel Casteel

Carter Casteel is a rare bird in Texas politics these days. She's a Republican who refuses to toe the party line on public education issues. If the GOP leadership had its way, the state would scrap public ed altogether and hand it off to profiteers. Republicans, the dangerous ones at the top, think corporates and/or Bible thumpers can do a better job of running schools than educators. Rubbish, Casteel says. The House member from New Braunfels is a former schoolteacher who knows a thing or two about teaching kids. Trying to educate her party bosses is a bigger challenge. Casteel's best-of-show came in May, when she delivered a fire-and-brimstone argument against private school vouchers that threatened to put public schools out of business. You got a problem with public ed? Casteel asked fellow lawmakers. "Look in the mirror! We are what we are, and we have created it!" The voucher bill died, thanks to a dozen brave Republicans like Casteel who bucked the bosses and voted their conscience.

Use of Recycled Material

Carole Keeton Strayhorn

The highly marketable "One Tough Grandma" campaign slogan worked so well for Carole Keeton Strayhorn in her 2002 bid for state comptroller, she's taking the catchphrase out for another spin, this time in her candidacy for governor.

State Legislator

Mark Strama

We knew politics could get hot, but we never knew it could be this hot. Mark Strama: HOT (wink, wink). Yes, we know there is more to consider, such as: his unseating of Republican incumbent Jack Stick; his involvements with initiatives "Rock the Vote" and KidsVoting USA; not to mention his founding the first company to register online voters. He is so much more than a pretty face. We heart you, Mark (tee hee)!

Dream Finally Realized

UT Gender & Sexuality Center

After seven years of planning, one of the largest universities in the nation finally acquiesced to student and faculty demands for a gender and sexuality center. Combining elements of an LGBT safe-space headquarters and a women's resource center, the little office in the SSB (Student Services Building, for you non-Horns) has been offering counseling, mentorships, and good ol'-fashioned advice to UT students and faculty. Director Ana Ixchel Rosal and crew aren't stopping there, either. Plans to resurrect the Safe Space program and institute faculty training sessions are just the first step. Yet, with the undeniable success GSC has had and since Michigan's version has existed since the Seventies, one question remains: What took so long?

Way With Words

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston

"I have listened to the arguments. I have listened to all of the crap. ... I want you to know that this amendment [is] blowing smoke to fuel the hellfire flames of bigotry." Rep. Senfronia Thompson, who delivered an impassioned argument against a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages and civil unions. Following her remarks, the Texas House voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ban.

Loot/Booty Free-for-All

West Campus Curbs and Dumpsters

At the end of every semester, West Campus looks like the furniture section of a Goodwill – except everything is free. Dumpster diving is never better than when students move out of their apartments. Whatever doesn't fit in daddy's SUV goes on the curb and is free for the taking – usually by other students. Most of their stuff was used when they got it, but a lot of it is still fine, functional furniture. Folks have been known to discover and salvage entirely decorated Christmas trees in their West Campus quests – just in time for the holidays!

Glen Maxey picked up a couple of BOA's, for best GLBTQ leader as well as his No Nonsense in November campaign. Kinky Friedman picked up Best Visionary in the readers poll, but then again, was listed next to Leslie Cochran, our local, wo/man about town. How appropriate.

Issues

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I'm pretty sure no one has been able to comment in a while. Things seem really sluggish, which is in part to an error in admin system but I'm a bit befuddled beyond that.

I'd call this an Open Thread but somehow I don't think that's possible right now...

Burnt Orange Brunch

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The Saturday before last we tried to get a bunch of the Burnt Orange Reporting crew together as many of us have never met each other before, and some of the new writers I know only by their applications to begin with. It was a fun afternoon filled with good old fashioned Dirty Martin's greasy hamburgers as well as talk of the Texas-OSU game (which we of course won) and Texas politics (naturally). We managed to get our server to take a shot of those assembled and we are very much looking forward to having another get together this fall, hopefully one in which you the readers may be interesting in joining us at.

From L to R: Phillip Martin, Drew Clinton, Andrew Dobbs, Damon McCullar, Katie Naranjo, Karl-Thomas Musselman (me), and Zach Neumann

Site Outages (2)

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Over the last day, we had another problem with BOR, this time having the server on which it was hosted over at DreahHost fail. I put a support ticket in and it looks like it was cleared up, but the same happened again today. Now I understand that this is all mostly due to continuing problems throughout their systems because of the blackouts and then someone cutting their building's generators...

Sorry about that, the database server you're on crashed. It's been rebooted, and should be working correctly now. If you need anything else, please let us know.

Thanks!
Brian

So if things here seem to go down again check out the dreamhost blog to see if it's a system wide issue first and then zing me an e-mail.

A Power Down

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

A couple hours ago large parts of Los Angeles lost power. Due to our hosting company (Dreamhost) being located there it affected their servers. Luckily, as they started powering them back up, BOR was on a server that was earlier in the sequence. Even though this was a small hiccup, I certainly recommend Dreamhost for your hosting needs. They are otherwise simply awesome.

Small Site Update

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Google ads are back on the site on the left sidebar as well as in some individual entries. The only reason that I've bothered to bring them back after the month it's been in shifting them over, is because I've found them to actually be of some use from time to time. They help to fund us as well to a smaller degree than blogads, but do help.

Another reminder that the RSS feed for BOR for the time being is
http://www.burntorangereport.com/mt/index.rdf

That of course is a bit different than it used to be but you may want to make sure you update it. We'll get it all sorted out later this fall when we have a new site launch that is fully ready, a project which just didn't work right this summer.

Also, contact information on the left has been updated as well as the About page.

Hello, Burnt Orange Report

By Kirk McPike

Ed. Note- In my posting madness this morning, I ending up forcing Kirk's announcement way down the page. I wanted to give him fair play as he will be a great new addition to BOR, filling in on some North Texas insight that has gone unreported since Byron began his consulting job. I'll be introducing one more writer next week who will be giving us a dose of humor each Wednesday in his column entitled "BORed". -KT

Karl-Thomas asked me to introduce myself, so here we go. I'm Kirk McPike. Some of you may know me from political events here in Texas, others through the comments section here. Most of you probably have no idea who I am. Don't worry, I'm sure that will change.

I'm a recent graduate of... well, a university in Dallas that likes horses and the colors red and blue... with a degree in political science. I presently work for the Dallas County Democratic Party, but nothing I say here (or anywhere else, for that matter) should ever be taken as the official opinion of the party office. I'm also the Vice President of Communications for the Dallas County Young Democrats.

While I'll try not to get too underfoot around here, I will be posting from time to time about things going on in the Dallas area. We've got some great Democratic candidates coming together for the 2006 election cycle. Next year is going to be an exciting time to be a progressive in North Texas!

I'd like to thank Karl-Thomas, Byron and the others here at BOR for giving me the opportunity to post here.

Site Outage

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Just before midnight I noticed that the database lost connectivity for BOR. It appears that the access setting changed for some reason but has been corrected. There does not appear to be a loss of data.

Though we will finally be reconnecting www.burntoragereport.com as the domain here this weekend, I am slightly irritated with the little quirks that keep popping up, which for the most part have been restricted to us on the back end. With the new Beta Test of Movable Type 3.2 it is to be expected, though long term I am becoming less pleased with our current state of affairs. So I have two questions...

1) Have you had problems being able to comment or otherwise use this site that have appeared recently?

2) Please list any and all systems you know of, as obvious as they may seem, that are out there for blogging. I'm looking for more community oriented tools if possible but may settle for less if MT 3.2 is not up to par. I know many Texas blogs use MovableType and I personally use WordPress for other projects but what else is out there?

Leave a comment or e-mail if you can't (link to the right).

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.

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.

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.

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.

So I Fibbed

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I'll be up in the morning to try to give a re-cap of DemocracyFest 2005. Overall, it was quite a success, with no large scale complaints or organizational failures which is impressive when managing 1000 people all over Austin. I know I personally made some connections, talked to candidates, and plan to start setting up some organization among the blogs as well as the Texas Blog Network to help support our state candidates.

Look to this space in the upcoming weeks for some guest posts from announced candidates for State House in Williamson County to Austin's north, as well as from Senate candidate Barbara Radnofsky. One of the biggest personal projects this weekend was the level of commitment and organizing that has already been pledged to the John Courage for Congress campaign. I have a meeting with him and Mark Strama's tech person this Wednesday. I'll start putting together a profile of the district and some analysis, building on some that I've seen GregsOpinion work on.

So, to the whole fibbing thing I mentioned in the title. The new BOR writers will not be announced tomorrow. I got one more application in today from someone I met at the Dean fundraiser last night and I need to have all 8 current writers vote on the applicants this week. So, the new date for announcement will be this Friday. That much I promise you now. In addition, the domain will be moved over to my account this week so you will notice that little re-direct thing going on to bor.musselmanforamerica.com go away. Also, a site redesign and a new platform will be implemented within the next month. BOR is ready to move to a more community oriented site, with polls, registered users, and other features.

If you have any ideas, or suggestions, comment or remarks, leave them in the comments. I will be making another more "official" post about the transition in BOR ownership from Byron to me in the next week, my expectations and direction for this community, and projects that I'd like to see Texas bloggers work on for the 2006 elections cycle.

So, for all the work, hubbub, and action that this weekend was, I say to you, that the District Sleeps Alone Tonight (lame pun for all you Postal Service fans).

Site Operations Transition

By David Strauss

In accordance with the transfer of day-to-day site operations from Byron to Karl-Thomas, the account hosting the site is also changing. Over the next few days, burntorangereport.com will redirect to bor.musselmanforameria.com. All links to burntorangereport.com, including those to specific pages, will continue to work. Please continue to link to burntorangereport.com instead of the temporary address to insure that your links continue working after the transition. The permalinks below each entry will also continue to fulfill their namesakes.

E-mail addresses hosted at burntorangereport.com will also continue to work through this transition.

The ability to add new comments will come online for each entry as the site rebuilds.

Please email any problems you encounter with the new site to transition@burntorangereport.com. Include the address of the page having the problem.

Burnt Orange Reporters

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Thanks to all of those that submitted their interest and information to us in regards to writing for BOR. At this time we will close the application process and begin the deliberation and voting process. I hope to have this wrapped up by next Monday when we will announce those that will be joining us on BOR. Accounts will then be created and the new writers will be asked to introduce themselves.

On the Applications...

By Byron LaMasters

If you would like to write for BOR, remember, we'd like to see your application really soon. Tonight was to be the last night, but if you need a little extra time, send an e-mail to us to let us know it's on the way. But at the least, let us know your intent today. For those that have applied, we will be in touch soon. ~Karl-Thomas

We have received several applications for new writers on BOR, and both Karl-Thomas and I spoke last night on how we are pleased with the quality of the applications thus far. We would both like to add new writers as soon as possible, but we want to give people who are considering applying a few more days. Unless anyone objects, let's make the deadline this Sunday, June 12.

For those of you who missed the application post, click here for details.

Joining the BOR Team...

By Byron LaMasters

While I will be posting much less frequently, all BOR writers want this blog to build on the success that we have had over the past two years. In order to do this, we will need fresh faces and energy to ensure that BOR continues to be professional, progressive, Democratic and student-led. We are seeking 2-4 people that can join the BOR team, and blog on a regular basis. Here are some of the things that we are looking for in potential candidates. These are not necessarily requirements, but rather things that we are specifically looking for:

• Candidates should have a passion for writing. Blogging should not be a chore, but rather should be something that is fun and enjoyable. Bloggers joining our team should commit to writing a minimum of 3-4 posts most weeks, and perhaps as many as several posts a day.
• Candidates should be a Democrat. Although our bloggers vary in our ideology, we are all Democrats and BOR is a Democratic blog.
• In addition to being a Democrat, candidates should regularly follow Texas politics. Candidates with experience attending political events, fundraisers and volunteering are preferred.
• Candidates should also be in Texas. Our niche is Texas politics from a student Democratic perspective. Ideally, candidates should be students (UT or UT system students preferred) as well.
• Candidates should be interested in writing primarily about Texas politics. We cover national politics, but our main focus is Texas politics.
• Candidates should have basic HTML skills. While blogging does not require a great deal of HTML knowledge, candidates should know the basics – links, posting images, blockquotes, italics, bold, etc.
• Previous blogging experience is a big plus. Whether it be a previous or current blog, or simply Kos or MyDD diaries, this experience is valuable to anyone interested in writing for BOR. Absent blogging experience, regular readers, people who have previously written for their high school or college newspaper and BOR commenters will also receive strong consideration.
• Candidates with specific interest and detailed knowledge of local politics are strongly encouraged. I would like to find someone to take my place writing frequently about Dallas, and we can certainly use people with in-depth knowledge of local politics in San Antonio, El Paso, Houston, the valley and west Texas.
• Women and minorities are strongly encouraged. We are all aware that the blogosphere is overwhelmingly White and male. This shouldn’t be intended to discourage anyone from applying to write for us, but we would simply like to strongly encourage female and minorities that have an interest in blogging to consider applying.

If you believe that this may be you, then we hope that you will apply to join our team. Writing for BOR is a great opportunity to become more involved in politics and activism. BOR is read by about 60,000 visitors a month, and blogging for us is certainly one way to get yourself read and known by leaders and activists in the Texas Democratic Party.

If you would like to apply, please email the following to:
Apply@BurntOrangeReport.com

• Please tell us about yourself in a paragraph or two. This should include your name, age, hometown, school attending/attended, major, party affiliation, political experience, blogging/writing experience and interests (political and otherwise).
• Please tell us why you would like to write for BOR, and what you believe that you can specifically add to our community.
• We would also like candidates to include a minimum of two writing samples. If you have previously blogged or have articles online, send us the two or more that you believe are best reflective of your work. If you do not have any of your work online, we would like you to write at least two samples of the type of posts that you would contribute to BOR. These samples can be quoting a news article and including commentary, writing an opinion piece about a specific issue or writing your thoughts on any recent event – the end of the legislative session, school finance, the looming 2006 GOP primary in Texas, news and results from local municipal elections, or anything else.

I hope to see a lot of applications, and I don’t want to put up a deadline yet. We would like to be able to start making some decisions by next week. We’ll make an announcement in the coming days on when we will be closing the application process. If we have more quality submissions than we are able to ask to join our team, then we may ask our readers to get involved by posting the samples and asking our readers to share our thoughts via comments or email.

If you have any questions about the process, please email us at: Apply@BurntOrangeReport.com. Jim, Karl-Thomas, Andrew and I all have access to this account, so all four of us will be reviewing applications.

Changes in my life, BOR

By Byron LaMasters

Dear Readers and Friends,

As you all may have noticed, my posting over the past weeks has decreased as I have undergone the process of transition from student to life after college. I recently received my undergraduate degree at UT-Austin with a B.A. in government and history, and I have spent much time over the past months considering what to do next. While there is a good chance that I will eventually continue my education, I have decided that after spending the vast majority of my life as a student, I would like to take some time to focus on my career.

Those of you who know me, and those of you who read BOR on a regular basis know that my passion is politics. I live and breathe politics. And I have desired a career in politics where I will have the ability to work with candidates, consultants and most importantly, help elect Democrats to all levels of office. Fortunately, I was offered a job in this regard with the Tyson Organization, and I have accepted their offer. Tyson is a Democratic political consulting firm in Fort Worth with a national client list, and I will begin working for them next Wednesday, June 8. I am very excited about this opportunity, and have committed to work for Tyson through December 2006.

Due to nature of blogging and political consulting, it will be impossible to continue blogging in the same manner as I have in the past. I have consistently sought to maintain the highest standard of ethics at the Burnt Orange Report in regards to disclosing any potential conflicts of interest, and I do not want there to be any doubt regarding my intentions. Since it will be impossible to include full disclaimers of the many Tyson clients on BOR, I have decided to limit my blogging on BOR. Effective Wednesday, I will no longer blog on any topic that would present a possible conflict of interest with the Tyson Organization, or place myself in such situation. In this regard, I will no long post on Democratic primary elections, municipal elections or elections involving Tyson clients. I still plan to post occasionally on issues that I care about, and on the silly things that Republicans often do from time to time, but my blogging will be greatly reduced.

Furthermore, I will be selling the Burnt Orange Report to Karl-Thomas Musselman in the coming weeks (I have consulted Jim and Andrew on this as well). Karl-Thomas and I have agreed to a basic framework of a sale, and we hope to finalize everything in the next week or two. I have decided that this is the best decision for me, my future employer and the blog. I want Karl-Thomas, Andrew, Jim (and all other current and future writers) to be able to write their conscience about Democratic primary races and municipal races without regard to my employer. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to remove ownership, editorial discretion and future advertising and revenue rights from my control.

Having said all of this, the Burnt Orange Report has been an important part of my life for the past two years, and more than anything, I desire its continued success. In the next couple of days we will lay out a process to add new contributors to BOR. All founding members and frequent contributors will take a leading role in ensuring that BOR continues to be professional, progressive, Democratic and student-led. We will lay out an application process for new writers to BOR. We would like to add at least 2-4 new regular contributors, and perhaps some less frequent guest posters as well. If you are interested in writing for BOR – especially if you are a Democratic UT student, or frequent commenter, I hope that you will consider applying to join our team.

Finally, thank you all for your support, your loyal readership and your informed feedback. I am very excited to be entering a new stage in my life, and I know that the future of BOR is bright with Karl-Thomas at the helm.

Thank you,
Byron LaMasters
Byron AT BurntOrangeReport DOT com

Blogging this Week

By Byron LaMasters

I just wanted to briefly apologize for the minimal amount of posts this week. I'm busy graduating, and I'll be busy with family obligations over the next several days. Karl-Thomas is struggling with his antiquated dial-up connection in Fredericksburg, and I assume that Jim is either tackling or recovering from law school finals. As for Andrew... I don't know what his excuse is...

Done

By Byron LaMasters

I just finished the last exam of my last course of my last semester for my undergraduate degree. It's a weird feeling. I'll be graduating next Friday.

Take the Pew Test

By Byron LaMasters

Take it, here. They call me a liberal. Shocker. What are you?

How Republican Are you?

By Byron LaMasters

Since I have nothing better to post this morning, I'm stealing this quiz from Pink Dome.

Take it, here.

My results?

Well, I am not 20% Republican. I've never voted for one in my life, but yes, I agree with the above statement.

Comments are Back

By Byron LaMasters

Just in time to comment about Ann Coulter and the anti-booty bill!

Comments

By Byron LaMasters

I'm sorry that the comments are down today. I have a support request into Dreamhost, so I hope that the problem will be resolved as soon as posible. Until then, feel free to email if you need to contact me - Byron AT BurntOrangeReport DOT com.

Karl-Thomas on the front page

By Byron LaMasters

I probably wasn't the only one a little bit surprised to see this picture when I opened up my Daily Texan today.

Your Ever-Impenetrable Burnt Orange Report -- now with five percent more evil!

By Jim Dallas

I got this idea from Kevin Drum, who writes at an 8th grade level, so blame him.

I conducted a readability analysis using this website of the last ten posts by Byron, Karl-Thomas, and myself. I didn't analyze Katie, Dobbs, Andrea, or anyone else, since there aren't a whole lot of recent posts from them. Full results below the fold.

The results? Well, let's just say you'd better have at least a tenth-grade education:

Jim - Flesch-Kincaid Grade: 9.53

Byron - Flesch-Kincaid Grade: 9.98

Karl-Thomas - Flesch-Kincaid Grade: 8.50

All Fog indices were higher than 11.6. This is roughly equivalent to the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, I re-analyzed BOR's RSS stream using the gematriculator, which reports that:

Granted, this is a slight change in methodology from our last report, which probably explains how the presence of an aspiring lawyer only results in a five percent increase. Then again, we've added Katie as a contributor since, so I'm sure that gives us a lot of "light side of the Force" brownie scout points.

Which reminds me, one month until the last Star Wars and two weeks until the fourth season of The Family Guy debuts!

Jim:

Summary Value
Total sentences 154
Total words 2,520
Average words per Sentence 16.36
Words with 1 Syllable 1,612
Words with 2 Syllables 486
Words with 3 Syllables 271
Words with 4 or more Syllables 151
Percentage of word with three or more syllables 16.75%
Average Syllables per Word 1.59
Gunning Fog Index 13.24
Flesch Reading Ease 55.91
Flesch-Kincaid Grade 9.53

Byron:

Summary Value
Total sentences 107
Total words 1,899
Average words per Sentence 17.75
Words with 1 Syllable 1,182
Words with 2 Syllables 407
Words with 3 Syllables 235
Words with 4 or more Syllables 75
Percentage of word with three or more syllables 16.32%
Average Syllables per Word 1.58
Gunning Fog Index 13.63
Flesch Reading Ease 55.13
Flesch-Kincaid Grade 9.98

Karl-Thomas:

Summary Value
Total sentences 158
Total words 2,644
Average words per Sentence 16.73
Words with 1 Syllable 1,748
Words with 2 Syllables 570
Words with 3 Syllables 257
Words with 4 or more Syllables 69
Percentage of word with three or more syllables 12.33%
Average Syllables per Word 1.49
Gunning Fog Index 11.63
Flesch Reading Ease 63.94
Flesch-Kincaid Grade 8.50

TYD Elections

By Byron LaMasters

As Jim noted below, we held our Texas Young Democrats (TYD) convention this weekend. I first became involved in TYD's in 2002, and this year was the largest convention since that time. Much of the reason for the increase in involvement has been due to several contested elections, along with renewed interest in working to take back Texas for the Democratic Party.

I was actively involved in the convention, and hosted the workshop on weblogs and websites where I tried my best to restrain myself from speaking too much, and asked my panel of BORers Jim Dallas and Karl-Thomas Musselman (also UT webmaster), and Dallas County YD webmaster Kirk McPike to speak on many of the questions that the workshop participants asked.

The elections today were the first contested elections since I became involved in TYD. My friend Mike Apodaca of El Paso was elected president unanimously. I ran on a ticket with several other candidates, and all of us were elected, including the three of us in contested elections.

David Wilkins (Dallas Co. YDs) defeated Erica Contreras (Harris Co. YDs) for Executive Vice President by a vote of 40-31. I defeated Bill Kelly (Harris Co. YDs) for VP of Finance by a vote of 46-25, and Angel Lopez (San Antonio YDs) defeated Jess Kline (UNT UDs) for VP of Membership by a vote of 39-32. It may surprise many of you that UT Democrats and Aggie Democrats voted together in all three races. Tonight, just this once, I will oblige our Aggie Friends with one token "Gig 'em" to show our appreciation.

My successor as UT UD President, Haley Greer (Capitol City YDs), was elected Treasurer without opposition. DCYD President David Hardt (Dallas Co. YDs) was re-elected as National Committeeman, and Shondra Wygal (Harris Co. YD) was re-elected as Secretary unopposed. After defeating Erica Contreras for Executive VP, David Wilkins nominated Erica for Chair of the Regional Directors, where Erica was elected without opposition.

Katie Naranjo of the UT UDs ran to replace me as Region 6 Director, and she was elected without opposition. Karl-Thomas decided to run for Region 6 Judicial Director, and he also was elected unanimously.

I am looking forward to serving as the next TYD Vice President of Finance. As VP of Finance, I will chair the Committee of Budget and Finance, and I hope that my former opponent will serve as a member of that committee, because he has many good ideas and connections to offer for our organization.

During the next year, I am looking forward to working with major donors as well as enacting a sustaining membership program so that the TYDs will be on solid financial footing going into the 2006 elections. As soon as our sustaining membership program gets underway, I'll be sure to inform our readers of all the details.

Texas Young Democrats, Liveblogging Kerry

By Byron LaMasters

Today kicked off the Texas Young Democrats convention, and our fundraiser at Scholtz's was a rousing success. More importantly, it provided the first opportunity in just about all of our memories for much of the BOR team to meet in one place. When we realized that five BORers were at one place, and I just happened to have my digital camera, we had no choice but to take a picture. It could have turned out better, but you take what you get (Jim, Karl-Thomas, Katie, Andrew and Byron left-to-right):

We had a little better luck with pictures of some of our guest speakers. U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Radnofsky kicked spoke first, followed by State Rep. Mark Strama (D-Austin) and former Congressman Chris Bell (D-Houston). Here's some pictures I caught of them:

Finally, I have press credentials for the Kerry event at UT tomorrow (or rather, later this morning). I plan to liveblog the event, and I just might be able to get an audio copy as well.

Please Welcome Katie

By Byron LaMasters

I hope that you all will join me in welcoming Katie Naranjo to the Burnt Orange Report. Katie is the Secretary of the UT University Democrats, and is running to be my successor as Region 6 Director of the Texas Young Democrats. I support Katie to fill my seat as I am not running for re-election, and am running to be Vice President of Finance of the Texas Young Democrats. Katie is a freshman at UT, and she asked to join the BOR team. I've seen BOR's number one weakness for awhile as our failure to have a consistent female poster, so I was delighted when I learned of Katie's interest in posting on BOR. Please welcome her to our site, and I look forward to hearing more from her.

We're One Big Happy Family. Yessirreee.

By Jim Dallas

Andrew caught a little flak for his post regarding Terri Schiavo, but one comment struck me as particularly, well mean, but also constructive, in the sense that it suggested Andrew start a spin-off blog.

Really, I happen to believe everyone should start at least one blog, and perhaps more! I have my own side blog. As does Karl-Thomas. It's a good idea.

However, I don't want to suggest by any means that Andrew should leave. Absolutely not! We're not all on the same page here at Burnt Orange. And indeed, the ideological meanderings have kept things interesting. For example:

• Andrew and I are both mostly against gun control. My understanding is Byron and Karl-Thomas are mostly for it (correct me if I'm wrong).
• I'm not exactly super progressive in gender politics; occasional poster Andrea, umm, is.
• Ever since leaving Austin, I've occasionally drifted off into obnoxious libertarian land, with Chicago School-influence rantings about why smoking shouldn't be banned(just to name one post), and the infamous "maybe Newt Gingrich is right about health care" post.
• I know Karl-Thomas has a tremendous faith in grassroots democracy, which has occasionally made a few of his posts regarding Howard Dean unintentionally amusing. Of course, he's not the only one.
• As for Byron, he's way too smart and usually right about everything. That really is all I got to say. Although he's got really weird musical preferences.

That said, we here represent only a tiny slice of the wonderful ideological diversity in the Texas Democratic Party. And while we're not always running the same plays, we're all on the same team!

Tom Musselman for City Council

By Byron LaMasters

Karl-Thomas's father is running for Fredericksburg city council. Tell your friends in Fredricksburg to support Tom Musselman for Fredericksburg City Council. I would encourage you all to donate to the campaign, but apparently Fredericksburg city council candidates rarely receive outside funding, so that would be bad form. Regardless, Karl-Thomas's father has extensive conections in Fredericksburg, and would be a great service to the council. Learn more about his campaign here.

Update: There's a (sort-of) blog here.