Watch The Skies For A Shelley Flyby

I thought lame duck Shelley was flying straight home to Clear Lake for the holidays, but perhaps not. In today's Chronicle:

Sekula-Gibbs pointed out that although her time in the legislative session ended, she still has weeks left in her term, which she will finish from her district office.

That's in Stafford. Over on my side of congressional district 22. Great.

If you haven't watched Shelley's speechifying to an empty Congress, you have a short window of opportunity while her congressional website is still up. Three of her speeches are up in the multimedia section and it's interesting to note that the Nov. 15th one doesn't make a whole lot of sense in places. This was Day 1 without Tom DeLay's staff that she had run off. First off in that speech, she lumps all of her constituents in one big red bucket:

I am Dr. Shelley Sekula Gibbs, and I am the newly elected Member of Congress from Congressional District 22. The people in my district are hardworking individuals who believe in conservative principles, such as the sanctity of life; traditional marriage between one man and one woman; the right to bear arms; smaller, more efficient government; making tax cuts permanent; winning the war on terror; and opposing a cut-and-run strategy; and stopping illegal immigration while streamlining legal immigration.

Then the nonsensical stuff creeps in:

One of my district's primary ways in which to prevent a terrorist attack is to be a hard target.

and this:

We rely on the 147th Texas Air National Guard with its squadrons of F-16s at Ellington Field to maintain our air defense and make us a hard target.

I don't get it. Am I reading this wrong? It's like she is saying we are a target for terrorism and that's how we are going to prevent a terrorist attack.

Scarily, the Chronicle alerts us to more "Shelley Gone Wild" behavior:

But after two weeks of legislative business on Capitol Hill, Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs learned what being a lame duck really means: She could give speeches but not deliver all of the goods.

The Houston Republican spent the past week — Friday was her last official day on the Hill — delivering one speech after another on the House floor.

Her soliloquies, aimed at the House television camera as the chamber was virtually deserted, could have been judged plentiful even in a place where performance art often passes for good politics.

Beside casting one of the 367 votes in favor of a tax bill that would, among other things, extend the sales-tax deduction on itemized federal income tax returns for Texans and residents of six other states, Sekula-Gibbs leaves a legacy mainly of C-SPAN video.

"District 22 had been without a representative for many months and it was important to have a voice on the floor of the House of Representatives again," she said.

She indeed held forth on Medicare and immigration (a subject that eluded agreement by Congress) but didn't confine herself to the major issues of the day. Among her other topics:

• A welcome to the first lady of Azerbaijan during her visit to Washington.
• Giving nonprofit athletic organizations immunity from being sued.
• Declaring the first week in April "Plan Ahead with an Advance Directive Week."
• Requiring abortion providers to give women the option of receiving anesthesia for the fetus.

It will be interesting to see the clips from these speeches in the 08 Republican primary fight for the TX-22 seat. Someone remind me in about February of 2008 to stock up on popcorn and make sure I have fresh batteries in my TV remote control.