In July I posted a diary series about Senator John Cornyn's deep ties to big money and corporate interests. Because we are facing a potentially impending financial 9/11, or so we've been told, this may be a good time to reexamine John Cornyn's record.
John Cornyn has voted with President Bush at least 97% of the time, despite the President's approval ratings that range from 23-30%.
We know from his record in the Senate that John Cornyn will predictably vote for legislation that is favorable to corporate and special interests. Both of our U.S. Senators will unfailingly vote against any legislation that ensures any kinds of oversight or regulation of corporations and special interests, even if oversight means protecting the interests of the people of Texas.
At the same time, John Cornyn consistently votes against legislation that will do anything to improve the quality of Texans' lives whether it is an increase in the minimum wage, a cleaner environment, or affordable heath care insurance, both of which would yield a far healthier population here.
(An excellent, interactive explanation of the "surplus" and how quickly Republicans are hijacking the surplus for property taxes. If you want to learn about the Magical Disappearing Surplus, watch the video below. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
(a must see new site from a fantastic leader. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
As a member of the Texas House, I'm going to be giving YouTube updates from my website every Friday between now and May 28, giving an oveview of what happened the week previous in the legislature. Check out my first YouTube address below:
Be sure to check my website for regular updates, as well as sign up for e-mail alerts on what's going on in the Texas Legislature.
While I doubt Burnt Orange Report will become web central for news related to the 2008 Presidential contest, it will be impossible to ignore in 2007.
John Edwards is rolling out his campaign and announcement in the next 24 hours and Texas' Fred Baron (of the Texas Democratic Trust) is sure to join back up with Edwards like in 2004. Still, Edwards has impressed this blogger (who of course is neutral) in making his bid and website excessivly blogger and next-generation web friendly. Here's the website and his blog. Check it out.
And be it Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, or YouTube- Edwards has a channel or group or profile at each one, linked from his homepage. RSS for all sorts of things is compiled in one nifty place. He has a message that speaks globally, while encouraging action locally. It's not a rehash of "Two Americas" nor is it a re-invention for 2008. And he's doing it all in the dead days between Christmas and New Years.
On top of that, Edwards has picked ActBlue to be his vendor for all his online fundraising- and I'll tell you why that's pretty awesome in a couple of days.
While the titans have yet to announce (Obama & Hillary), Edwards has every ability and right to put himself among them.
It's been more than a year since John Courage announced his bid to run for Congress in Congressional District 21. It was September 17, 2005 on the Texas State Capitol grounds that John started this political journey. A bus full of supporters came along on that announcement tour. Change was in the air.
(You have voted 4 times on-line, have you voted yet in real life? - promoted by Matt Glazer)
On behalf of Team Courage, and from the bottom of my own heart, I want to say THANK YOU to the blogosphere, the Netroots, and all of the voters who helped me win another online victory yesterday. At 7:01 p.m. EST, we learned that we were one of the three winners in John Kerry's PAC's "3 at the Buzzer" poll. Along with my fine Democratic colleagues, Senate candidate Jim Webb and congressional candidate Dan Seals, we are honored to have garnered the most online votes in the field of 17 Netroots candidates, terrific challengers all.
The prize is to be featured in Sen. Kerry's final fundraising email of this election season. With more than 3 million email recipients in his list, Sen. Kerry can give us a major boost at this critical point in the campaign.
(This ad was originally over a minute long and the struggle was to get at least one ad on the air before the election. Now the Courage Campaign has raised over $325,000 and the question is how long can this new 30 second ad stay on the air. Check it out and keep it on air! - promoted by Matt Glazer)
From a News 8 Austin feature posted at the end of August that interviewed the KinkyToon guy. I was looking for a News 8 clip about the voter registration that was going on this morning at the Coordinated Campaign office.
The conversations on Web sites like youtube.com are not spun by hired political handlers. Youtube.com is an open forum that includes critics and fans.
"This has democratized the campaign probably more than it ever has in the past, with everyone being able to speak and talk about their opinions," Andy Hunter of advertising firm GSD&M said. "It's not just sitting down passively, and watching what's going on, and then making a decision and voting. I think it's a lot easier to participate in an election now."
On the flip side, interactive media requires a change from candidates in how they play politics, Hunter said.
"Candidates love to be able to craft what they say in a very distinguished way and roll that out over time. The vehicles to bring that message out there aren't quite so linear," Hunter said. "It's a world where you have to be ready for dialogue at any given moment. And you just don't have as much control over it."
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"Bloggers can take your clip and post it within their blogs so it can get out to lots of different viewers," Johnson said. He posted his latest creation on youtube himself.
By the way, I hope that we didn't disrupt Kinky Friedman from observing Rosh Hashanna today. I was filling in at the office for our Voter Reg Director who along with another member of the office staff was out for the Jewish holiday.
