Burnt Orange Report

Helping with Housing

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

MoveOn has a really great thing they have developed to help match up people who need housing with those willing to offer it. Hurricane Housing. It's a great use of a political tool normally used to match volunters up with events or rideshare programs, but now for hurricane victims in need of longer term housing that they may not be able to pay for. As Internet access gets set up at various shelters and at the AstroDome, this should be a workable resource. Sign up if you are in Texas where any of the refugees can stay.

Also, we have approved the BlogAd for free and the AID graphic at the top left as part of the online effort to help support and aid hurricane victims. This gives the rest of us who can't spare a room (since all I have is one total here on campus) but can spare a dime. This one goes by paypal which is a lot easier for me certainly, and many online readers and activists. (And yes, it is legit, read throught the comments on the donation site if you are concerned. And if you want to ad the ad to your site or to your blogads list, look here for cut and paste code.)

Of course, on campus the College Republicans and University Democrats are working together to gather donations, though it would be nice if their parent organization took up similar "compassionate" action instead of sitting around blasting Democrats about John Roberts, or the RNC from using their e-mail list to send a message about of all things, the death tax.

Yeah, I'm worried about the death tax- the kind that death that's taxing millions of families in the Southern United States right now.

Reaching Out

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

One thing that I have been impressed with has been those in politics using the power of thier listservs to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. I've received messages from the DNC, Nick Lampson, Chris Bell, Save Texas Reps, and most Texas Blogs have posted appeals and ways in which you can help.

If you are in the Houston area, check out how to help at these posts by Kuffner and Bell. And of course you can always donate to the Red Cross through the link at the top left.

A Helping Hand

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I noticed over that the Chris Bell campaign they had called off their online fundraising drive, not because it was going slowly (well, it wasn't doing speedily either) but because they have replaced it with a call for donations towards the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

I've added their donation link to BOR because this is one of those events where all Americans should step up to help our fellow citizens whose lives are totally disrupted. Though many feel they should send clothes or food or other such supplies, the best thing you can do, and what most Aid Organizations have asked for, is monetary donations. The Red Cross is taking the lead in this effort and can more efficiently get what is needed to where it is needed and can do that easier with dollars than objects.

So please help those in need of aid.

Support Cindy Sheehan in Crawford

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

MoveOn is taking out an ad in President Bush's local newspaper in support of Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who is camped outside Bush's ranch in Texas asking for a meeting with the president. They'll publish the number of signers and the best comments in a full two-page spread in the newspaper nearest to Crawford (The Waco Tribune Herald) while Cindy holds her vigil. 3:00 PM Friday is the print deadline

http://political.moveon.org/meetwithcindy/

Nate, a guest writer here at BOR this past spring, was out in Crawford and has a report here. If you are in the area or can make it up there, drop by to see here and bring something cool to drink as the temperatures will be creeping back up this weekend. Damon may be headed out there depending on timing issues with the Bell launch and other projects.

Turn The Capitol Blue

By Damon McCullar

Floating this back up to continue the discussion while I write my next post on the subject. And I made a donation today to the TDP back when it jumped from $85 to $95, so I'm using that as my excuse for sustaining this debate. -KT

From the Texas Democratic Party Website:

New Session, New Beginning!

Rick Perry's special session has failed once again to fix the problems of school finance in this state. For the fourth time in a row Democrats were shut out of the process, for the fourth time in a row Republicans have failed and four times in a row now Republicans proposed a plan with higher taxes, less money for schools and more red tape for teachers. Texas Democrats came within one vote of passing their own plan for schools, but the visionless Republican leadership killed the proposal. After all of these failures, Rick Perry has decided to do it all over again.

The only hope for Texas schools being fully funded and Texas taxpayers getting the relief they deserve is for Democrats to take back the legislature. In the second half of the last special session we raised almost $3,000. Now, we are setting a goal of $4,000 for this session. With your help and dedication, we can do it. Click here to show your support for real education reform and taxes that are fair to the people of Texas. This money will go towards rebuilding our party across the state and building on our gains in 2004. With the failed leadership of the last four years we can turn Texas blue!

Run. Everywhere.

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I'm about to echo what has been said across the blogs the past day because it's an issue that has struck a chord with Texas Dems and needs to be set down as our standard for 2006. (Reference Kuff, Save Texas Reps, Eye on Williamson County, Et Cetera, and Greg)

This conversation was initiated in large part because of comments made about SD 7 becoming an open seat and the reaction from "high powered consultant" Marc Campos who said this.

Yesterday, an internet opinion suggested that Dems field a candidate in SD 7. They said Dems can go from 25% to maybe 40% - from a severe a__ whipping, to a solid a__ whipping. Bad idea. It costs $1250 to file for state senator. Better idea to send that money to Ellen Cohen.

That's some "high powered crap" right there. A candidate running in SD7, regardless of what you may think the outcome may be, will give a reason for Democrats on the ground there to not only vote, but start to organize around whatever campaign is running and then going into the future, have ongoing organization that whalah!, builds our Party.

Granted, there is a more limited pool of money on the Democratic side perceptually than there is over with the GOP. But the money raised for an SD7 battle, because of the nature of the district and any likely candidate, is going to come out of that district and not drain off of other Dems funding other targeted races. Let me give and example: much of the Texas Hill Country has been ignored for cycles. There has been little funding flowing out of it but in 2002 we had candidates run like John Courage in the old 21st and even a challenger to Carter Casteel back then, which spurred the first wave of new donors out of that area in a long time.

And guess what, they're still around and may be willing to fund other races or the party like my family has for instance. And who are Chris Bell, and Radnofsky, and Van Os going to go out and see in Lampasas in early September? An 800 person picnic extravaganza with Democrats, organizers, and donors coming from the 21 counties of the Hill Country from Fredericksburg to Abilene, Menard to Killeen. Hell, I'm here blogging today because John Courage inspired me two and a half years ago to stand outside of the Gillespie County Courthouse on a chilly November night handing out his campaign material in the reddest of towns with my now elected father. And that happened without moving the Democratic totals from beyond that "severe ass whipping" 25% mark.

If we are honestly worried about lost filing fees being the reason for defeat for other candidates, then we have some serious problems as a Party, because it shows a lack of vision beyond the parochial and a lack of foresight beyond the next election day. Letting grassroots candidates run in some of the more 'hopeless' districts is the cheapest way the Party can help build itself and push out its message to people who otherwise will never hear or see from an actual Party operative in the next decade.

I think it's worth it. Let people run. Everywhere.

P.S. Campos appears poised to tell all us bloggers to run for office if we're so hot on it. Note to Mr. High Powered Consultant, we already are. So remind me when you're filing again?

Have no fear, Nate is here

By Nathan Nance

Guest post from Nate Nance

I just wrote a comment in Jim's post on redistricting in California. The basic gist was that we're the minority party. We have no power under the Republicans in Congress. What are we so afraid of?

The idea that somehow we can have some impact if we're nicer to the GOP, or if we have candidates that they can't possibly object to or if we reach out in a bipartisan manner, I think all of that is just pointless. We're the minority party, we should understand an accept it. But we don't have to kowtow to the Republicans because of it. Americans like an underdog story, that's us. We need partisanship.

I'm using kind of an interesting model for this idea. I'm using the Republicans themselves. The Newt Gingrich Revolution in 1993 should be our game plan on this. The GOP was in the minority, did they beg to be let into conference committees? No. They attacked attacked attacked. Relentlessly. We might decry it, but it is effective.

Kevin Drum has a post on this very thing where he references Bill Kristol from 1993:

Bill Kristol’s famous strategy memos [urged] Republicans to reject any and all health care proposals from the White House “sight unseen.”....Kristol penned these memos as head of the Project for a Republican Majority, launched in November 1993 to “frame a new Republicanism by challenging not just the particulars of big-government policies, but their very premises and purposes.”

Kristol warned of the political and ideological repercussions of a successfully passed health care bill — it would revive the Democrats’ reputation as “the generous protector of middle-class interests” and “relegitimize middle-class dependence for ‘security’ on government spending and regulation” — but he also promised that a successful and total defeat of Clinton’s plan, if handled in the correct way by the Republicans, would mark “a watershed in the resurgence of a newly bold and principled Republican politics.”

We've got to be willing to embrace crazy, bold new ideas. The old ones don't work. People can scream all they want that we'll lose elections, but I've got news for them. We're losing elections now. We are at the point that we can say or do anything and we can't go much lower. Somewhere out there is someone with a bright idea we can embrace that will make us win, though.

Whether it is non-partisan redistricting schemes or universal health care or whatever, we can't be the old party on this. Things have got to change in a big way or nothing is going to change. I don't know about you, but I would rather have a discussion about how to keep power 4 years from now. That's going to take a big change and the first step has to start right here, right now.

This is a guest post from Nathan Nance. Nate is a sports/news clerk at the Waco Tribune-Herald and writer editor of Common Sense a Texas-based Democratic Web log. He can be reached at nate_nance@yahoo.com.

Slam Coulter for Her Anti-American Hatred

By Andrew Dobbs

You know, I was just about to go to bed, finally get some much needed rest when I had to peruse the blogs and I ended up seeing this:

In a column posted on the conservative Heritage Foundation's Web site, Fox News contributor and White House ally Ann Coulter unleashed an attack on Cleland's service to his country, claiming that the triple amputee/decorated war hero displayed "no bravery" in Vietnam. The politically motivated assault came after Cleland appeared at events critical of the Administration, once again showing the conservatives pattern of impugning the patriotism of those who question their policy. It comes just after President Bush himself nominated Cleland to the Export-Import Bank and after Bush called Cleland "a good Democratic senator out of Georgia." (...)

SAYING AN AMPUTEE VET 'DIDN'T GIVE LIMBS FOR HIS COUNTRY': Coulter wrote, "Cleland didn't give his limbs for his country or leave them on the battlefield" because she says he lost his limbs in a "routine, noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with his friends." But as the 8/1/99 Esquire Magazine notes, Cleland lost two legs and an arm in Vietnam when a grenade accidentally detonated after he and another soldier jumped off a helicopter in a combat zone.

SAYING A SILVER STAR WINNER IS NOT A "WAR HERO": Coulter said people "should stop allowing [Cleland to be] portrayed as a war hero" – despite the fact that, in a separate incident four days before he lost three limbs, Cleland won a Silver Star - one of the highest honors for combat courage the U.S. military gives out. The congressional citation which came with the medal specifically said that during a "heavy enemy rocket and mortar attack Captain Cleland, disregarding his own safety, exposed himself to the rocket barrage as he left his covered position to administer first aid to his wounded comrades. He then assisted in moving the injured personnel to covered positions." The citation concluded, "Cleland's gallant action is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army."

SAYING CLELAND WAS "LUCKY" TO HAVE LIMBS BLOWN OFF: Coulter said, "Luckily for Cleland…he happened to [lose his limbs] while in Vietnam" and said that had he been injured "at Fort Dix rather than in Vietnam, he would never have been a U.S. Senator." Of course, Cleland probably would not have been dealing with live grenades and enemy fire in the save haven of Ft. Dix.

I can't remember being so angry at anything in a long time. A man is awarded medals for his bravery in combat and during that fight- a fight no one wanted a part of but that thousands of brave men fought because they loved their country- he lost three of his limbs. And then some empty headed, evil minded, slut of a Republican like Ann Coulter has the gall to say that he was lucky, that he is not a hero, that he has shown no bravery. Well Ann Coulter can kiss my ass. It's time to demand some action.

You can contact Ann Coulter directly here, be sure to use small words- she isn't the brightest light in the box. Furthermore, be sure that you don't say anything patriotic- someone who hates America so much that they would sneer at a man that gave up his mobility, his limbs and nearly his life for this country might get upset.

You can email Fox News here and tell them how you feel about them putting someone like Ann Coulter on the air.

The thing is, we can't do anything too bad to her. She can say all of the anti-American, anti-soldier, hateful, malicious and untrue statements she wants to and there is little to nothing we can do about it. She has that right because thousands of Americans have given their lives for those rights and have answered the call to service with honor and dignity, not cowardice and conniving. Max Cleland is a great man, an honorable man of dignity- Ann Coulter owes him and all our veterans a huge apology for the vitriolic hatred she spews so she can be on TV more. Shame on her.

Alright Texas Dems, A call to Action!

By Byron LaMasters

I'll be in Austin this Saturday, will you? If any BOR readers or fellow bloggers will be in Austin for the rally, let me know! Most cities have buses taking people to the rally, so check with your local county party. I volunteered to phone bank for the Dallas County Democratic Party last night to help fill up some buses (more info here for you Dallasites out there).

Redistrcting Stops Here

By Andrew Dobbs

Hey kids, I know that I usually stick to Howard B. Dean stuff, but I figured I'd better weigh in on Tom DeLay's apparant allergy to representing the people of Texas. Move On is sending its members in Texas an email with the names and numbers of prominent Texas officials that could nail "The Hammer" on Redistricting. The end is near and any map passed, it doesn't matter if it makes all 32 districts solid Democrat (what an ugly map that would be...) because the conference committee will be stocked with DeLay's spineless ass-kissers and will end up kicking every white Democrat in Texas out of office. Call these people, have everyone you know who thinks that the crazy notion that cheating is wrong call these people. These calls works- they keep track of them and Senators listen to them. Here ya go:

Sen. Kenneth Armbrister D-Victoria
(512) 463-0118 (Capitol)
(361) 572-8061 (District)

Sen. Kip Averitt R-Waco
(512) 463-0122 (Capitol)
(254) 772-6225 (District)
(817) 326-1161 (District)

Sen. Robert Duncan R-Lubbock
(512) 463-0128 (Capitol)
(800) 322-9538 (Capitol-Toll Free)
(806) 762-1122 (District)
(915) 481-0028 (District)

Sen. Eddie Lucio D- Brownsville
(512) 463-0127 (Capitol)
(956) 548-0227 (District)
(956) 968-9927 (District)

Sen. Frank Madla D- San Antonio
(512) 463-0119 (Capitol)
(210) 927-9464 (District)

Sen. Bill Ratliff R-Mount Pleasant
(512) 463-0101 (Capitol)
(903) 572-1887 (District)

If we don't win, Texas loses. To the phones!

Doggett cosponsoring resolution in WMD investigation; MoveOn wants you to help!

By Jim Dallas

Hello Burnt readers.

Austin's congressman, Lloyd Doggett (D-Travis County) has signed on as a cosponsor of Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-Calif.) resolution calling for independent investigations of Bush administration claims about Iraqi WMDs and other (potentially bogus) justifications for invading Iraq.

Please help by getting your congresscritters aboard... here.

Thank you,

Jim.