Texas Senator Provides Fillibuster Proof Democratic Majority

Many of us hoped that Texas Senator would be Rick Noriega. Who would have thought that our own Junior Senator, John Cornyn, would lose the fillibuster proof Senate majority for the R's on his watch as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee? When Franken is seated, and now with Specter, D's will have 60. Great job Senator Cornyn - and thanks! Even more interesting, will this move by Specter allow KBH to resign to run for Governor in the Great State? Bill White and John Sharp, start your engines! UPDATE: This from TPM (emphasis mine) -

As a point of reference, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)--chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee)--wrote a letter to Pennsylvania Republicans two weeks ago endorsing the man who today decided he didn't want to be a Republican at all.

"My job as head of the NRSC is to guide the GOP back to a majority in the Senate," Cornyn wrote. "I can't do that without Arlen Specter. With him as our nominee, I can target our campaign resources toward beating Democrats and growing the Senate Republican Conference."

Whoops. Well...perhaps he'll reconsider now that it looks like conservative Pat Toomey will be running against Specter in the general election not the primary.

Blogger Bill Heard in House Judiciary Committee Today

Rep. Aaron Pena had his "blogger bill" - HB 4237 - heard in the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence today. Two outstanding Texas progressive bloggers testified in favor of the bill - Vince Leibowitz of Capitol Annex and Karl Thomas Musselman of Burnt Orange Report. Rep. Pena did a great job laying it out and closing it. I live tweeted it and I summarize that below:

Blogger bill being heard in House Judiciary Committee today. @CapitolAnnex there to testify & is tweeting. Live feed here: http://tr.im/jROe Pena doing a great job talking about bloggers in the House Judiciary Committee. He gets it. @aaronpena laying out HB 4237 - the blogger bill - right now. @capitolannex and @karltm will testify. My testimony is written (@capitolannex submitted for me) & is in favor. @aaronpena bill is about privileged matters clause - extends it to bloggers. Makes it inclusive of modern technology (note: modernization argument seemed to resonate with committee) @capitolannex is testifying now in favor of HB 4237. Someone on committee said, "we are supposed to give this guy a hard time, right?" (note: I think it is because there is a Rep. Leibowitz on the committee) @capitolannex is testifying on behalf of the Texas Progressive Alliance in favor of HB 4237-revise statute to keep up with modern technology @karltm testifying now in favor of HB 4237 - Owner of Burnt Orange Report @karltm makes point that former bloggers have moved to work in traditional media - Eileen Smith with TX Monthly, who has own blog - In the Pink Texas A good question for @karltm - how are traditional media people like Burka who also blog protected? They are protected because their blog is tied to traditional media (note: good question - committee is thinking about the bigger picture and nuances) @karltm Wow! KT knows his stuff. Gives examples of semi-traditional media blogs who might be unprotected (note - so impressed with both KT and Vince - did a great job answering questions!) @karltm gives example of Charlie with Pink Dome who was unprotected, went to traditional media (protected), now back to blogging on Pink Dome (unprotected) @karltm gives good example of how Eileen Smith's TX Monthly blog points to her private ITPT blog. @karltm gets compliment on Burnt Orange Report from judiciary committee! Rock! Special compliment on BOR speaker race blogging. @karltm getting good question - should twitter, texts, emails be protected? I have same question. Live tweeting so similar to live blogging. @karltm and @capitolannex both make point that HB 4237 will eliminate frivolous lawsuits - ahh, torte reform working FOR us Good point being made by committee: traditional media folding, bloggers wave of future - need protections @karltm makes good point that bloggers do not revel in folding of traditional media-regular journalists likely to go to independent blogging. @aaronpena says don't get distracted by any of baggage bloggers picked up over years - me: like us blogging in our pajamas? :) @aaronpena says New York has law with broad protections - does not single out journalists for special treatment. Suggests TX needs to be like NY

The bill was left pending in committee, but that was expected. I was very impressed with the knowledge of Rep. Pena, the quality of the testimony of Vince and KT, and the attention to the matter by the committee. Kuff, Eileen Smith and I submitted written testimony in favor of the bill. My testimony is below:

Martha Griffin April 27, 2009 Testimony IN FAVOR of HB 4237 I’m testifying in favor of Rep. Pena’s HB 4237 to provide protection to bloggers covering matters of public concern such as this hearing. I write two blogs – a political blog and one on public education. Like most bloggers, I don’t think twice about “liveblogging” a public political meeting. It seems important, if I am there in person, and if it’s of interest to those who couldn’t attend, to share what I am observing. I also think it’s important to think about the open nature of digital communications today. We’ve gone from the stereotype of a few bloggers in their pajamas just a few years ago, to an explosion of ways to communicate on the internet. Blogging is just one way. Millions of people are on Facebook and Twitter. Those two social media tools in particular encourage you to share your “status” – to tell what you are doing and what you are observing to a very wide internet audience. It almost seems like everyone is a blogger. Members of this Texas House blog – and they blog about what happens on the floor of the Texas House – and in committee hearings. I can almost guarantee someone is liveblogging my testimony right now. Some bloggers consider themselves citizen journalists. They aren’t taking the place of traditional journalists, but they add value by getting information out –and from their point of view as a parent, educator, legislator, student, activist or whatever it might be. That’s blogging at its best – reporting plus interesting commentary. I can’t imagine that any of these people ever imagine they could be hauled into court over a blog post about what happens in meetings dealing with public issues. They probably feel it is their right, if not their duty to report their observations and give their readers their point of view. Blogs have a commentary feature, so those who disagree with that point of view or wish to clarify a point, can do so. This seems like a common sense law – to protect Texas bloggers from lawsuits over their reporting and commenting on matters of public concern. I urge you to vote in favor of this bill.

TX SBOE Chair McLeroy Confirmation Hearing Today

No time for blogging, but this is important. I'm going to contact the committee members before I head out the door. I got this (below) from TFN by email. Here's a link to more TFN info on the hearing.

Confirmation Hearing for State Board of Education Chair Don McLeroy on Wednesday

On Wednesday (April 22), the Senate Nominations Committee will hold a public hearing on the confirmation of Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, as SBOE chair. Gov. Rick Perry appointed McLeroy chairman in July 2007, after the last legislative session. So the Senate has never officially confirmed his appointment.

State lawmakers aren’t happy with a state board that has become increasingly dysfunctional (and embarrassing) since the Bryan dentist’s elevation to chairman. The board has disregarded established procedures, ignored state law, defied the Legislature and lurched from one “culture war” battle to the next. Most recently, of course, Chairman McLeroy led the board in opening the state’s science curriculum to creationist attacks on evolution, wildly declaring:

“I disagree with all these experts! Somebody has to stand up to these experts!” -- Chairman Don McLeroy, SBOE Science Standards Hearing, March 27, 2009

Clearly, it's time for new leadership on the state board. By rejecting McLeory's nomination, the Senate would send a strong message to the state board that playing politics with our children's education -- and making Texas the laughingstock of the rest of the world -- is not acceptable.

What You Can Do

1. Testify at the Hearing -- The Nominations Committee will meet at 1:00 p.m. or 30 minutes after the Senate adjourns for the day on Wednesday. The hearing, which will include testimony on other nominations as well, will be in the Senate chamber at the Capitol. Those who want to testify should e-mail Judie at TFN or call 512-322-0545 for details.
2. Contact the Committee Members -- Want to share your opinion about Chairman McLeroy with the committee but can’t come to Austin to testify? Click here for the committee’s Web page. Then click on each member’s name for contact information.

TYD Key to Turning Texas Blue

While I'm hunkering down here in Houston, with storms raging all around me, my (much younger) friends are in Austin at the Texas Young Democrats convention. The youth vote in Texas went up over 300% in 2008, and it doesn't look like that was a one hit wonder. My TYD friends are extremely talented - and very serious and focused about their role in turning Texas blue. You can follow along at The Texas Blue, Burnt Orange Report and on facebook and twitter. I'll update with new links as I find them. My buddies Mini Timmaraju, Ken Flippin, KT Musselman, Matt Glazer, Jason Stanford, Brian Pendleton and Terrysa Guerra are on the program! Also, Senate candidates John Sharp and Bill White share the stage in the General Session tomorrow morning. I hope someone tweets that!

Pay Toilets on the International Space Station

Funny.

In a newspaper interview published just days after he blasted off for the station last month, veteran Russian astronaut Gennady Padalka said that squabbles on Earth over access to food, water, toilets and other facilities have hurt crews' morale and hampered cooperation between the Russians and Americans.

Padalka told the newspaper Novaya Gazeta that new rules were put in place after Russia started charging other space agencies for the resources used by their astronauts.

And, then there is this report on Americans not letting the Russian cosmonauts use their exercise bike:

Before leaving, he reportedly told the Novaya Gazeta that, since 2005 when space missions were put on a commercial footing and the Russians starting billing US astronauts for its services, the Americans have responded by an increasingly isolationist stance on their own facilities.

Specifically, Padalka claimed officials had "rejected his request to work out on the American exercise bike". He said: "They told me: 'Yes, you can'. Then they said 'no'. Then they hold consultations and they approve it again. And now, right before the flight, it turns out again that the answer is negative."

Sounds like a business plan - or pissing contest? - run amok.

When asked about the toilet incident, a NASA employee stated, "This is sh*#ty."

TX Rep. Betty Brown and Ramey Ko's 7-Minute Exchange on YouTube

At 1:40, Brown asks Ko what ID Chinese people have to use to vote in China. Yeah, not kidding. She wasn't either. Much laughter ensues from the audience, though. At 3:30, Brown literally suggests Asian people use a fake name on their Voter ID. Fake Voter ID's will be legal? This is a quick seven minutes. All of it is absolutely astounding.

Brown's Non-Apology to "These People"

Someone please tell Betty Brown to just be quiet. Seriously, if anyone considers Rep. Brown a friend, call her and tell her to QUIT TALKING. Because she's just making things worse. If it quacks like a culturally insensitive person, it is a culturally insensitive person. This (to Ramey Ko, of all people), who was testifying before the Texas House committee hearing the Voter ID bill:

"Well, rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese, as I understand, it's a rather difficult language," said Brown. "Do you think it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here? This is something that would make it a lot easier both for you and poll workers if there was some name you could adopt just for these identification purposes that would be easier for Americans to deal with," said Brown.

Then, this "apology" (?) on KXAN:

"We're ready to work with any of these people who are having problems and have them educate us on anything that might be going on that we're unaware of," said Brown.

"These people." "You and your citizens." (She knows "these people" are U.S. citizens, right?) "Easier for Americans to deal with." (because Ko, who is Asian American and a graduate of a certain fine university where a certain sitting American president with a non-Caucasian sounding name was his professor, is not American?) I'd be real curious to know if Brown can spell and pronounce "Barack Obama." UPDATE: Oh, my. Here's the YouTube of Betty Brown and Ramey Ko at the hearing. At about the one minute mark, hear Brown ask if Chinese people need ID to vote in elections in China. Oh, hahahaha! Much laughter from the audience. Oh, those crazy East Texas legislators are so funny! Hear Ko school Brown (at about 3 min.) on transliteration and then Brown's fab idea for Chinese people to use a fake voter ID name that "YOU could use with US." She also compliments young person, Ramey Ko, on being bright (at about 6:30)! Some of the most hilarious, yet disturbing 7 minutes of your life. Ko is remarkably patient. And, bright!

Betty Brown's Real Last Name

State Representative Betty Brown is in hiding tonight from thousands of genealogists who are camped outside her home, demanding to know her REAL last name. "It's quite possible that we should be calling this state representative Betty Braunstein, Betty Brunelleschi or Betty De Bruijne," said one leading onomatologist. These experts are insistent that in nearly every single case, the name Brown has been anglicized from one of the following names:

English: generally a nickname, Middle English (le) brun, from Old English brun or Old French brun (both of Germanic origin; cf. Old High German brun), referring to the colour of the hair, complexion, or clothing. It may occasionally be from a personal name, Old English Brun or Old Norse Brúni, with the same origin. Brun- was also a Germanic name-forming element; some instances of Old English Brun may therefore be short forms of compound names such as Brungar, Brunwine, etc. The German cognates are associated with the much more common Continental personal name Bruno, which was borne by the Dukes of Saxony, among others, from the 10th century or before. It was also the name of several medieval German and Italian saints, including the founder of the Carthusian order (1030 - 1101), who was born in Cologne.

Brown also occurs as an anglicization of the Jewish names listed below, including compounds, and of names in other languages meaning brown.

Variants: Broun, Broune, Browne

Augmentative: Italian: Brunone.

Cognates: Catalan: Bru, Brun; Bruna (feminine). Danish, Norwegian, Swedish: Bruhn, Brunn, Bruun. Dutch: Bruin, Bruine, Bruyn, Bruyne, De Bruin, De Bruine, De Bruijn, De Bruijne. Flemish: Bruinen, Bruineman, De Bruyn, De Bruyne; Bryn. French: Lebrun. German: Braun. Low German: Bruhn, Brun. Italian: Bruni, Bruno. Jewish (Ashkenazic): Braun; Brauner; Broinlich (from Yiddish broynlekh brownish). Portuguese: Bruno.

Compounds (ornamental): Jewish: Braunfeld brown field, anglicized as Brownfield; Braunroth brownish red; Braunstein brown stone, anglicized as Brownstein; Braunthal brown valley.

Diminutives: Catalan: Brunet. English: Brownett, Brunet, Burnell, Burnet, Burnett. French: Brugnot (Switzerland); Bruneau, Brunel, Brunet, Bruneton, Bruno, Brunt. Frisian: Bruinsma. German: Bräunle, Bräunlein, Breinl, Breinlein; Praundl, Praundlin (Bayern). Italian: Brunelli, Brunetti, Brunini, Brunotti. Low German: Bruhnke, Brunke, Brühnicke, Brünicke; Brüntje.

Patronymics: Dutch: Bruns. English: Bronson. French: Aubrun. Flemish: Bruyns, Bryns. Frisian: Bruins. German: Brauns:. Low German: Bruhns:, Bruhnsen, Bruns:, Brunsen. Rumanian: Brunesco.

Patronymics (from diminutives): Low German: Brüntjen. Dutch: Bruyntjes. Italian: Brunelleschi.

Brown is one of the most common surnames in the English-speaking world, with, for example, some 5000 listings in the London Telephone Directory and over 2500 in Manhattan. The variant Browne is also common in all parts of Britain and Ireland; in Galway it is borne by descendants of a 12th-century Norman invader called le Brun, and has in part been gaelicized as de Brún.

In a joint press conference today, thousands of Caucasian groups from around the country stated, "It is certainly our hope that Betty Brown will come clean and reveal the secret she has been hiding for years, that her real last name is virtually impossible to spell or pronounce. Her nameophobia had got to stop. She's just corrupting the voting process in Texas, knowing full well that if her true last name is known, no poll worker in the state will be able to find her name on the list of eligible voters."

Kleinschmidt, Kolkhorst and Kuempel Legally Change Their Names

At the urging of State Representative Betty Brown, Representatives Kleinschmidt, Kolkhort and Kuempel changed their last names to Smith, Cole and Powell today. Brown had chastised them in a committee hearing on the necessity of Voter ID saying, "Rather than everyone here having to learn German - I understand it's a rather harsh language - do you think it would behoove you people to change your damn name to something all of us can spell here? I mean really, you should have done that when you stepped off the boat from the motherland."

How Natural Selection Has Shaped the Texas SBOE

"Genetics is the foundation for modern biology, not evolution...Genetics goes back to a Christian monk who did precise data." --Don McLeroy, Chair of the Texas State Board of Education. I guess this NYT story on race and natural selection makes a monkey out of McLeroy - from the very first sentence:

In a worldwide survey of 50 populations, a team of geneticists has identified many fingerprints of natural selection in the human genome.

Oh, dear, and again, in sentence three, it's pretty clear that advances in genetics are informed by the theory of evolution by natural selection :

The genetic regions where natural selection has acted turn out to differ in various populations, doubtless because each has been molded by different local forces on each continent.

McLeroy is distinctly Western European, so he might be interested in this piece of his evolutionary heritage:

The three West Eurasian groups show very similar patterns of selection, which probably occurred before they separated into three geographically distinct populations but after their ancestors split from those of East Asians.

And here we go with those darn experts claiming a longer timeline than 6000 years, so beloved by the creationists on the SBOE:

The principal human races presumably emerged as the populations of each continent responded to different evolutionary pressures. "Our work supports the notion that regional populations have adapted in a variety of ways, some shared, some not, to the selective pressures they encountered as they dispersed from the ancestral African homeland some 80,000 years ago," said Jonathan Pritchard, a population geneticist at the University of Chicago.

For a real treat, watch McLeroy in real live convoluted action as he lectures the SBOE in March (and all of us in the room) about evolution . . . and how he is standing up to the experts (but bless their hearts, they are such nice people) . . . and how this is really all about textbooks: I think there's a clue in the NYT article as to how the 7 creationist SBOE members evolved:

Another set of genes found to be under selection in non-African populations are three NRG or neuregulin genes (the third, NRG3, is shown in red) and a receptor gene they all interact with (ERBB4, also in red). The NRG genes make signaling proteins that are active in the developing embryo in shaping tissues like the brain, heart and breast. A variant of NRG1 has been implicated in schizophrenia. The researchers do not know which of the several roles of the neuregulin genes has caused it to come under selection.

Yep, there certainly is an implication that this Western Euroasian gene mutation is implicated in a brain-heart-breast-schizophrenia malfunction on the Texas State Board of Education.

Annise, Gene, Peter or Roy for HISD Superintendent?

Maybe HISD should look to the Houston mayor's race for its next superintendent. Our new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan is in favor of mayors running large urban school districts. Here's what he had to say about that at the annual conference of the National School Board Association today:

The education secretary didn't shy away from controversial comments earlier this week staking part of his effectiveness as secretary on increasing mayoral control of schools in urban areas, but prefaced his remarks with a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment the board members might not agree.

"You are welcome to boo. Please don't throw any shoes at me," he said .

Noting the progress made in Chicago, Boston and New York schools since those mayors have gained control of the school systems, Duncan said higher engagement from city mayors and the larger communities are needed to drive real reform.

But the education secretary said his support for mayoral control doesn't mean he thinks school boards should be obsolete. Making the kind of progress Duncan said Chicago's schools have made in the last two decades would have been impossible for him (and Paul Vallas before him) and the board there to make with out strong support from the mayor and larger communities, including business and philanthropies.

"It's a false choice to me to say you need a strong mayor or a strong board," he said. "A piece of the answer is strong leadership at the top."

We have a Municipal School District in the Houston area - Stafford MSD, the only school district in Texas run by a city. Information about their student performance can be found here. Their ELA TAKS scores are good, but math and science TAKS scores are low in some grades.

I guess what I'm wondering is when Parker, Locke, Brown or Morales entered the mayor's race, did they ever consider they might be asked to run HISD (or any of the other school districts with the Houston city limits)?

A question about mayors running urban school districts would certainly be appropriate at a mayoral candidate forum. I hope it gets asked!

The Pitiful Few District H Early Voting Locations

This just seems wrong. Take a look at the Houston City Council District H map below. And then compare it to the early voting locations, which are all east of I-45. Ripley House is in the East End, which is area 5 on the District H map. Moody Park is in area number 4 on the H map. The downtown voting location is also in 4. So, all of the District H voters who live west of I-35 and north of 610 are pretty much SOL in terms of early voting. This is a set up for an extremely low turn out. I hope those Heights voters get motivated to get in their cars and head out east and vote early. Or, perhaps the candidate(s) with the resources to educate them about where to vote on Election Day will be rewarded with a spot in the runoff.