(The pictures from Haiti are shocking. $10 is the least we can do to help. I texted mine in; please help out. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
If helping those less fortunate and seeking justice are core elements of the Democratic Party, then any help you can give to the Haitian people - right now - is desperately needed.
I urge you to do the following: text 'HAITI' to 90999 on your cell phone. Ten dollars will be donated to the International Red Cross for relief efforts; this donation will be charged to your cell phone bill. This is completely legitimate, and is being advocated by the State Department. (And the traditional fees and cuts taken by cell phone carriers are being waved by most carriers in this case. -kt)
The capital city of Port-au-Prince has been destroyed. The Presidential Palace has been destroyed, the UN headquarters of the country has been destroyed. Several tens of thousands have died in the initial earthquake, and that number could escalate into six figures in the next few days unless food, water, shelter, and medical aid are brought to the island.
Up to three million people have been injured. A conservative estimate is that fifty thousand people died in the first day; as a comparison roughly the same number of Americans perished in the entire Vietnam War.
The cataclysm for the Haitian people - the poorest country in the western hemisphere - will get worse before it gets better.
(We would be remiss to make note of the former Congressman. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
Sad news came to our state today. Bill Patman, a U.S. Congressman and Texas state senator, passed away. (Statesman, DMN)
His life was impressive and meaningful: the son of the legendary U.S. Congressman Wright Patman, Bill went on to be a political figure of substance in his own right. He served as an elected representative for the people of Texas for nearly a quarter century.
He was the best that Texas public servants had to offer. He was constantly concerned with the welfare of working families, and was tireless in doing right by his constituents. Unlike many politicians, he was not especially interested in the limelight. He just wanted to do right.
My admiration for Bill Patman goes beyond the professional. He was a dear friend to me and to my family. He was a pallbearer for my grandfather. My father worked in his office in the Texas Senate. He and his lovely wife Carrin came to my wedding.
He was a man of honor, good humor, and integrity. Texas needs more men like him.
This week marks the fifth anniversary of shock and awe in Iraq.
Five years of blood - 3,990 U.S. soldiers killed, including two who perished in a midday bomb attack in downtown Baghdad just yesterday, and more than 29,000 seriously wounded.
Five years of treasure - $800 billion officially, including President Bush's pending request for additional tax dollars, and probably closer to a total of $3 trillion, according to Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
Five years of shocking failure and awesome incompetence.
It was a year ago that I returned from Iraq, where I had been serving as a civilian. I didn't support the original invasion, but I held out hope that we could help Iraq build the foundation of a democratic system to justify the heartbreaking personal investments of our military families and the financial sacrifice of our taxpayers.
I was wrong.
Neither administration - not the one in Baghdad, not the one back in Washington, D.C. - had the commitment or competence to get the job done.
This week, what we are left with is a holding pattern of continued violence against our soldiers and Iraqi civilians, against our standing in the world, and against our economic well-being, which is now being driven into a deepening recession caused to some significant degree by that can be laid at the feet of the more than $12 billion you and I are already squandering there each month.
Yesterday, George W. Bush issued hollow assurances that he and his administration are doing everything they can to avoid an outright plunge into economic disaster, touting a $30 billion bailout of a prestigious Wall Street bank engineered since last Friday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others.
"I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, for working over the weekend," Bush smiled.
He made no mention of the families of the 15 U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq since Sunday, who surely have lost their share of sleep, too.
Veteran Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle yesterday endorsed foreign policy expert Dan Grant in his race for the Democratic nomination in the 10th Congressional District, saying he is uniquely qualified to step into the seat once held by Lyndon B. Johnson and J.J. 'Jake' Pickle.
"Dan Grant has the wisdom and experience that we need to face the challenges of the future," Earle said. "He is too good an offer to pass up."
Earle, who last month announced his retirement after 31 years as the county's top prosecutor, announced his endorsement during a news conference at the Travis County Courthouse.
Grant, campaigning in Austin on the last day of Early Vote, said he is proud to have Earle's backing.
"Ronnie Earle has held a generation of public figures accountable, including the man who engineered the mid-decade redistricting scheme that put the seat I'm running for into Republican hands," Grant said.
CD-10's boundaries were redrawn in 2003 under pressure from then-U.S. Majority leader Tom DeLay, who has since been forced to resign in disgrace.
Grant spent much of the past decade working as a civilian under contract to the U.S. Government in trouble spots around the world. He returned to Texas last March from Iraq, where he served as part of the international civilian team in Baghdad. He helped the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq prepare and conduct the historic elections of 2005 and, as deputy director of Iraq's largest out-of-country voting program, oversaw the effort to register eligible voters in major U.S. cities for Iraq's Transitional National Assembly election.
A graduate of Georgetown University and the London School of Economics, Grant has put forward a detailed plan to help working families find economic security during the current downturn. He has called for universal health care, significant steps toward energy independence, an expansion of the pro-work, pro-family Earned Income Tax Credit, micro-lending programs to help local companies and entrepreneurs, and new investments in education to help the U.S. compete with China, India, and other emerging global economies.
Grant grew up in Austin and interned for legendary Congressman Jake Pickle while attending McCallum High School.
(Dan Grant is a BOR endorsed candidate in the TX-10 Congressional Primary. - promoted by Burnt Orange Report)
Yesterday, we received yet another major endorsement. Increasing our list of endorsers to 42, the Houston Chronicle wrote:
U.S. Congress, District 10, Democrat Dan Grant - A graduate of the London School of Economics and Georgetown University, Grant has deep foreign policy experience earned as a U.S. Agency for International Development official in Afghanistan and Iraq. He favors an immediate pullout of the bulk of American troops from Iraq. Closer to home, Grant says his domestic priorities will be supporting policies geared to economic recovery and health care reform.
Our current TV spot has also received great response:
The people have spoken and believe I am the candidate for the voters in CD-10. Here is a complete list of our supporters:
(While Grant has garnered more endorsements, Doherty has a wide lead in fundraising. This will be definitely be a race to watch. Here, Grant adds another impressive endorsement. - promoted by David Mauro)
State Representative Senfronia Thompson, the dean of women lawmakers at the Texas Capitol and one of the state's leading champions for civil rights, today endorsed Dan Grant in his race for the Democratic nomination for Congressional District 10, saying that Washington needs a fresh voice to help strengthen economic security for middle-class families, end the war in Iraq, and restore protections for consumers, children, senior citizens, and other ordinary Texans whose values have been largely overlooked by the current administration.
"Dan is the best candidate to get the job done in Washington," Rep. Thompson said. "His vision is broad enough to encompass the entire district, and he has the energy and expertise to represent us all, from Northwest Austin to Northwest Houston."
I am proud to have received the enthusiastic endorsement of the Texas AFL-CIO and other Labor groups representing more than 230,000 working men and women across the state.
Every progressive movement in our nation's modern history has come about because of Organized Labor's courage and steadfast refusal to take its eye off the ball -- protecting the health and well-being of the great American middle class.
Ankrum: "Dan Grant is the only Democrat in the race who can beat Mike McCaul"
Ted Ankrum, the retired Navy officer, diplomat, and NASA administrator who earned the 2006 Democratic nomination in Texas' 10th Congressional District, today threw his support behind foreign policy expert Dan Grant's candidacy for a fresh start in a new direction, saying that Grant's experience in Iraq and other global trouble spots will help him lead the fight to bring U.S. troops home and shore up the economies of communities across Central Texas.
"Dan is the only Democrat in the race who can beat Mike McCaul," Ankrum said. "He is uniquely qualified to redirect the tax dollars being squandered in Baghdad to our own communities in Brenham, Bastrop, and beyond. Simply put, he is the right choice for all of us in this year that promises dramatic change."
The reviews are in, and consumer spending this holiday season was up a mere 3.6 percent over the year before. It was the weakest increase in at least four years, as families purchased fewer presents to put under the tree -- and spent one-third of that increase on gasoline.
The news is the latest evidence that the free spending fueled by Washington's aimless policies in Iraq has turned our economy into the equivalent of a grade-B horror flick come to life -- Return of the Living Debt.
The candidate filing period opened today — and Dan was there to make it official, saying he hoped to signal his understanding of how eager Central Texas voters are to get started on changing Washington.
