Largely thanks to my parents' amazing love for music, I grew up with this kind of sound shaping my childhood. When things turned down, I was more likely to listen to Jackson Browne or Townes Van Zandt than anything else. I specifically remember listening to Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky for a long, long time.
As I learned the guitar, and began to play at nights (on occassion) with my Dad, I always focused on rhythms and singing, not anything technical. To date, the most technical song I can play correctly is probably The Beatles' "In My Life." But I'd much rather strum along to The Byrds' "You Don't Miss Your Water" or Shake Russell's "Deep in the West" than anything else.
Anyways - just a great song I thought you'd enjoy. Well done, Glenn.
Glenn Smith has a significant observation: Rick Perry may have violated federal law when he obstructed the investigation into the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. The U.S. Justice Department is deadly serious about oversight of forensics investigations, and warned grant recipients that federal law -- specifically, U.S.C. 18.1001, would apply to grant recipients if the independence and integrity of forensics oversight was jeopardized.
When Gov. Rick Perry obstructed an investigation into the execution of a man experts say was innocent, he committed a crime against all Texans. State executions are carried out in our names, collectively and individually. Subverting the truth in such a matter is a betrayal of the public trust that is difficult to describe or comprehend.
But Perry may have also committed a crime against the U.S., and I'm not talking about his secession threats. He may have violated federal law, U.S.C. 18.1001. This is no trivial matter. An innocent man was executed. Federal laws and guidelines are in place to keep that from happening. Perry may well have violated those laws and guidelines, for which there are criminal penalties.
Smith goes into many more details and sites observations from pundits and statute. Perry at best showed he was unfit to govern any agency let alone Texas. At worst, he willingly covered up an ongoing investigation in the execution of an innocent man. As Glenn puts it, he "destroy[ed] the independence and integrity of a critical law enforcement agency to conceal material facts".
Justice should be done, even if it hasn't been in the case of Mr. Willingham.
Last week, Rasmussen released the first poll on the Rick "Cyborg" Perry vs. Kay "Coward" Hutchison in quite some time. We wrote about it previously on BOR:
In a primary will relatively low turnout, the intensity of support matters greatly. To see Perry's "strongly approve" go down and "strongly disapprove" go up, even slightly, may worry the Governor's campaign team.
While the polling at first glance seems like good news for Hutchison and bad news for Perry, a question still remains about how a challenger, even one as popular as Hutchison, can defeat a ten-year incumbent governor who has a nearly 70 percent approval rating among likely primary voters.
Most analysis of the polls was straightforward, like ours -- but one person is thinking outside the box, and I wanted to highlight that.
The conventional wisdom is that Perry has secured the GOP right-wing base, the people most likely to turn out in the 2010 Republican primary. But if there was ever a year when conventional wisdom was worth exactly what you and I paid for it, this is it.
I think it’s too easy for people to look at a few racist yahoos in Texas and assume they are what the state is all about, politically or culturally. It’s not the case, of course. Most Texans are live-and-let-live, tolerant folk. We are “the friendship state” after all. There’s no question that the electoral impact of racism is significant here, as it is throughout the South. But Texas is not a Southern state. In many ways it is the most demographically complex state in the country. We’ll explore that complexity more in the future.
I just want to raise a warning about listening too much to conventional wisdom, including talk that by securing the far right-wing Perry has all but won his primary. I don’t think it’s true. What if the alarm and disgust at the yahoos generates a significant turnout of moderate voters? What happens when health care reform passes and the controversy disappears, as it always does? What happens if there’s buoyancy in the economy? What happens if people are just sick and tired of Perry’s hair?
Glenn Smith is one of our heroes here at Burnt Orange Report. A recurring guest writer for our site (as well as the work he's done over at the leading national blog, FireDogLake), Glenn is someone who sees the big picture of Texas politics, and connects with the progressive culture in a way that pure politics simply cannot.
With that, we're excited to announce the launch of his new blog, DogCanyon.org.
Many of us -- both here at Burnt Orange Report and across the Texas progressive blogosphere -- have had the good fortune of working closely with Glenn in recent years. Glenn has spent the past thirty years working in journalism and politics. Just a snapshot of his work (which you can view fully here at his Facebook page) is enough to make you realize how high the bar is set for all the aspiring political consultants out there:
Led Ann Richards' successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas
Worked for both TX Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen
Has written for the Houston Chronicle and Hoston Post, and is author of such outstanding works as "The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction" and "Unfit Commander"
Glenn taught at George Lakoff's Rockridge Institute in Berkeley, and at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley
Glenn's work stands on its own -- but rather than rest, he's gotten restless. In talking with him about his site, he told BOR:
"There's a growing gap between Texas political events and the voters. There are bold and engaged sites, like BurntOrangeReport, that are doing great work. At DogCanyon we're going to complement that work and offer some insights into Texas culture and politics, for readers here and around the country.
"In a couple of months the Texas Tribune will launch, an exciting new model for online news. I think all of us are trying to address a critical public need, the need for accurate and timely information. Make no mistake, the committed journalists at the big newspapers are committed to the same thing. They're just as committed as they've ever been, but the reading habits of people have changed."
Recognizing that we read differently, Glenn is adapting. His new website -- www.DogCanyon.org -- has already earned him rave reviews and accolades from respected voices in the progressive community:
“There are experienced progressive activists and there are insightful political writers. Glenn Smith is both, and he combines these skills with grace and abundant humor. Like Molly Ivins, he uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all -- no matter where we live. I'm ready to make Dog Canyon a regular stop on my cyber-travels.”
--Arianna Huffington
“He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us… He writes in the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”
--Paul Begala
“Glenn is a legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.”
--Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos
We're excited and eager to read all of Glenn's new work at Dog Canyon (and hope he'll still come over and hang with the Burnt Orange Report crowd from time to time).
Best of luck, Glenn! And we'll be sure to read you at www.DogCanyon.org!
With less than 24 hours until we hear the state of the state, Rick Perry has officially declared his emergency legislation. With the recent failure by Craddick to ignore the constitution and steamroll bad legislation through the process, Rick Perry has been forced to call it like it is- saving our parks needs emergency legislation.
The Governor's office has required the usual Republican protocol to create a budget, reduce social programs, and punish and supervise sex offenders.
Interestingly, Perry has become a fair-weather fan of parks funding. Perry has a well documented history with our park system. After Glenn Smith announced to the world that Rick Perry was trying to sell our parks. Perry's plan to sell our parks was countered with Chris Bell's plan to save our important state lands.
Seems kind of fishy that now, after having 61% of electorate has voted against him, Rick Perry wants to save our parks.
Not only has the Governor been late to fix the problem during the election, over 100 elected officials have already started doing the work to save our parks without the Governor having to say a work.
On January 8, Harvey Hilderbran filed House Bill 6 to eliminate the cap on the sporting goods tax- the same plan proposed by Chris Bell.
Since being filed over 100 legislators in the House have signed on. After years of slashing state funding for every agency and failing to appropriate money to our parks, Rick Perry has now decided our parks are in a state of emergency.
It's good to see that Slick Rick has decided to pay attention to one of the many problems he has caused. Now if only he would we realized that CHIP, college tuition, our public education system and much more are in a state of emergency.
It is important to get a different perspective on what is going on in Texas and what is happening inside the Capitol.
That's why we are happy to have Glenn Smith on board to talk about the issues that affect us. Glenn is known for his work with DriveDemocracy.org, institutional knowledge from years at the Houston Post, and diverse campaign experience including former Gov. Ann Richards.
Capitol Annex's Vince Leibowitz has taken his knowledge of the lege and brought it over for a frequent column, we like to call, Bill Buzz.
This is all part of our goal to give you the best commentary and breaking news to our readers.
