Vote
Democratic!

Oh we hate the polls. They miscount women, they miscount new voters. But it’s what we have:

Rasmussen Reports
Mode: IVR

Texas 9/29, 500 LV, 4.5%
McCain 52, Obama 43
Sen: Cornyn (R-i) 50, Noriega (D) 43

That’s getting better.

We have pros on the ground here in Fort Worth & Tarrant County. All of Texas Democrats need to be working hard until November 4th to Get Out The Vote. We’re close to turning Tarrant Blue for Obama, but everyone needs to do their part: Call, Walk & Support!

Our very own Pete Geren has been a champion for milbloggers: (and here)

Geren, a Fort Worth native who assumed the top civilian post in the Army last year, browses several each morning, just as he reads coverage of the Army in the nation’s major daily newspapers.

“It’s part of my effort to understand what is going on in the communications domain, particularly for the age group that is the heart and soul of our Army,” Geren said during a phone interview as he returned from a recent trip to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Milblogging has been very controversial, due to the risk of exposing operational security details to the enemy. Pete Geren is on the right path, recognizing the importance of an Army with a high morale. Supporting milblogging gives the soliders a direct link into the current new media, and hopefully, an on-the-ground viewpoint, unfettered by civilian appointee politics.

Thanks to Chris Vaughn, Star-Telegram, for the original, and local, reporting.

Raise more hell.
-Molly Ivins

Excellence as always.:

The Texas Observer has named as its editor Bob Moser, writer and editor for The Nation, former editor of North Carolina’s Independent Weekly, and author of Blue Dixie: Awakening the South’s Democratic Majority.

Moser succeeds former executive editor Jake Bernstein, now a reporter for ProPublica, a non-profit investigative news organization in New York, N.Y., at the helm of the biweekly magazine.

Past editors of the Observer, based in Austin and published by the non-profit Texas Democracy Foundation, include such nationally acclaimed journalists as Ronnie Dugger, Willie Morris, Robert Sherrill, Molly Ivins and Geoffrey Rips. The winner of countless awards for its investigative reporting since its founding in 1954, the Observer was named America’s best political magazine by the Utne Reader in 2005.

She would take womens’ causes back 50 years or more.

I’m all for a woman in the White House, but not that woman.

Really, what more is there? We’ve all seen the reports, the videos, the interviews. Her nomination is the result of a desperate political stunt to rally the Republican base that doesn’t like John McCain because ‘he’s too moderate’.

Never Believe a Poll. But they are encouraging.

ABC/WaPo, 9/22 (9/7) Likely Voters, Moe +/- 3

Obama 52 (47)
McCain 43 (49)

Over the past two weeks, the percentage of independents with favorable views of Palin dropped from 60 percent to 48 percent. Among independent women, the decline was particularly sharp, going from 65 percent to 43 percent.

Well of course, women took a closer look at her, and said no thanks: she doesn’t represent us.

Among Republicans, conservatives and white evangelical Protestants, strong enthusiasm for McCain’s candidacy has dropped by double digits.

And the kicker that pushes towards victory:

Independents, key swing voters, now break for Obama, 53 percent to 39 percent, reversing a small lead for McCain after the Republican convention. McCain is the choice of 86 percent of Republicans, while about as many Democrats, 88 percent, back Obama.

Thanks DailyKos.

If I am elected, it will be due in large part to the surge in Democratic performance from the Obama movement.

The Tarrant County Obama vote and turnout will be VERY interesting, given Texas’ strong Republican domination for years.

I need your help with the resources to work House District 99 for the Democratic Party.

John Morris is throwing a house party for my campaign, this Thursday, September 25th.

The party will run from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, and is for all Democrats and supporters of Sheila in the Arlington Heights, Crestline, Monticello, West Byers and surrounding neighborhoods.

Neighborhood House Party

John Morris’ House
4900 Calmont Ave
Fort Worth, Texas 76107
Thursday, September 25th, 6:00pm to 8:00pm
To RSVP & Directions: 817-732-8691
Wine, drinks, cheese & hors d’oeuvres

Can you make it?

Will you give $25 right now, to pay for signs, and voter contact?

I am sick and tired of the ‘Results’ our incumbents cite. I’m disgusted by the ethics they demonstrate: opting to spend campaign funds profusely for personal gain, as long as it slides by the law. For example, the loophole that allowed Sen. Kim Brimer, and other area legislators, to pay their spouses rent in Austin, with campaign funds. Friends, that’s a bribe in my book, straight from the special interest, into the campaign funds, and paying for an investment property in Austin.

OH, but the part against the rules? You are only allowed to pay rent for a home inside Travis County. One of our esteemed legislators violated that rule, by going North into Williamson County, but only received a slap on the wrists from the Texas Ethics Commission.

CBS just had a talking head economist declare that current taxpayers won’t have to pay for the bailout. It’s future generations.

No. My son is a taxpayer right now, and I’m 100% certain he will have to pay for it for many, many years before and after retirement.

Our very own Phil Gramm, in 1990 was largely responsible for the legislation permitting Wall Street to fall so far, so fast. He is John McCain’s economic advisor.

Lurking in the background of this weekend’s collapse of two of Wall Street’s biggest names, is a $62 trillion segment of the $450 trillion market for derivatives that grew huge thanks to John McCain’s chief economic advisor, Phil “Americans are Whiners” Gramm. That’s because in December 2000, Gramm, while a U.S. Senator, snuck in a 262-page amendment to a government re-authorization bill that created what is now the $62 trillion market for credit default swaps (CDSs).

Read More by Peter Cohan, bloggingstocks.com

What is a Credit Default Swap?

A credit default swap resembles an insurance policy, as it can be used by a debt holder to hedge, or insure against a default under the debt instrument. However, because there is no requirement to actually hold any asset or suffer a loss, a credit default swap can also be used for speculative purposes and is not generally considered insurance for regulatory purposes.

Republicans? The Fundraiser Must Go On!As of last Thursday, a Fort Worth Republican Fundraiser plan: (Credit to Star-Telegram, Anna Tinsley)

Meanwhile, Bush will attend a reception Tuesday afternoon at the home of a Fort Worth supporter, on behalf of the McCain Leadership Committee. As of Friday, McCain was not expected to attend. Bush’s reception is more exclusive and is expected to draw just over a dozen attendees who will pay sums ranging from $2,500 per person to $57,000.  

But plans changed, due to Ike: (Credit to Todd J. Gillman, Dallas Morning News)

He will travel to Galveston and Houston. The trip takes the place of a fundraising swing he had planned for the day through Topeka, Kan., and Fort Worth; those duties are being performed instead by Laura Bush.

Urban Gas Drilling Causes Backlash In Boomtown, by John Burnett
All Things Considered, NPR (Aug 5, 2008)
via texaskaos

In the wake of Chesapeake’s infomercial comes Shale TV, a daily talk show about the Barnett Shale set to air this fall. The company has hired three award-winning Dallas broadcast journalists to produce the show.

Julie Wilson, Chesapeake vice president for corporate development, says she understands there’s skepticism about the objectivity of Shale TV, but she insists it’s no different than the rest of corporate media.

“Well, I think we pay those journalists – whether on Channel 8 or Channel 11 or the Star-Telegram – in terms of advertising support,” Wilson says. “We see this as pretty much instead of running the ads on the program, we’re just writing the check direct.”

But then the winner:

Chesapeake Energy’s CEO, Aubrey McClendon, is a big believer in aggressive media campaigns. He was a major backer of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s military record when he ran for president in 2004, and other right-wing causes.

Just when you thought we might have an important bipartisan issue to address as a community.

For those of you who enjoy reading (or just need a good cringe) about the opposite of good government: Texas Blogger activists bring you a bit of opposition research. http://texrepublicans.com/

This site is designed to help get the truth about Texas Republicans out to voters. It’s kind of like opposition research, but in a “Web 2.0″ style. Over the course of the election cycle, we’ll feature GOP candidates for Texas House and Texas Senate that catch our fancy. We’ll probably never be able to feature all of the GOP candidates running because there are just too many of the lying liars out there and not enough hours in the day to document all of their dirt.