Van Os for Texas Attorney General :: In David's Own Words: Notice to Big Oil: I'm coming after you

Politically, I think this is brilliant. In terms of policy, I've got some questions. But I'd always rather have the populists running on the D ticket than on the I ticket. If you truly think you are an Independant or Populist, please look to David Van Os first, then consider Strayhorn and Friedman. I know the races are different. The values stay the same. Vote Democratic.

Van Os for Texas Attorney General :: In David's Own Words: Notice to Big Oil: I'm coming after you: "Texas was the second political jurisdiction in the world to enact an anti-trust law. We did it in the 1880s. Our then Attorney General, James Stephen Hogg, drafted the bill and persuaded the legislature to pass it. This was at least 10 years before the U.S. Congress enacted the federal Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

We still have a strong state anti-trust law. The primary enforcer is supposed to be the attorney general. Enforcement is virtually nil under Greg Abbott.

As Texas Attorney General I may not be able to do much about what the Oil Giants do to the people of New Jersey or Iowa, but I'll have a hell of a lot to say about what they do in Texas. Further, the corporate headquarters of the biggest of the Oil Giants, Exxon Mobil, is in Irving, Texas. I'm going to use every tool at my disposal, most importantly the anti-trust law and the consumer protection law, to take on the oil tycoons over what they're doing to the people of Texas. Unlike Greg Abbott who filed a few consumer protection charges against a few small-time retail outlets, I'm going to go to the core and break up the big boys' party at the sources. "

Taylor County Democrats: GOP Legislature About to Vote Themselves a Massive Tax Break

Taylor County Democrats: GOP Legislature About to Vote Themselves a Massive Tax Break: "Why does it surprise me that GOP politicians are voting themselves a tax cut, raising taxes on small business, smokers and the poor, and doing nothing for the public school children of Texas? I guess it really doesn't. The Texas GOP has no shame, no point where they won't go to enrich themselves. Vote. Register voters. Make sure they vote. It starts in your neighborhood and your precinct. We have the power. Vote.

MySA.com: Metro | State: 'The average state senator would get property tax savings nearly four times the $512 that an average San Antonio homeowner would get under a proposal working its way through the Legislature.
"

Taylor County Democrats: FortBendNow: Tom DeLay Replacement Candidates Bump Up Against The Perry Factor

Taylor County Democrats: FortBendNow: Tom DeLay Replacement Candidates Bump Up Against The Perry Factor: "Fort Bend Now once again provides some brilliant original reporting. All Democrats need to be analyzing this piece, and how it relates their own precinct politics. We must have our groundtroops in order.

FortBendNow: Tom DeLay Replacement Candidates Bump Up Against The Perry Factor: 'As the clock ticks toward Tom DeLay’s expected resignation announcement, insiders and outsiders alike continue spilling ink speculating on the favorite frontrunner replacement candidate.'"

Off the Kuff: Why you should never say "How could it get any worse?"

I refrained from posting about this story, since it wasn't really Texas related. But if a great liberal Texas blogger like Kuff posts it, then it is Texas related.

Off the Kuff: Why you should never say "How could it get any worse?": "With every lousy poll that comes out for the Republican Congress, you have to think that some of them have asked themselves if it were possible for things to get any worse. If so, I have bad news for them. How does a prostitution scandal grab you?"

Taylor County Democrats

Taylor County Democrats

Fort Bend Now has caught one of the most important stories about grassroots politics in Texas, and I want to make sure it doesn't stay under the radar.

Why is this story important? Because both parties have become complacent about politics as usual. Lots of Republican precinct chairs are vacant in Fort Bend because everyone trusted or didn't care about the good old boys in power. The GOP ruled, and that was good enough.

Lots of Democratic precinct chairs in Taylor County (Abilene)are vacant as well. Because we acted like a bunch of whipped yellow dogs. The Republican party had taken over. No way we could beat them in Red Texas. We whined and yelped, and like dogs bit**ed, but did nothing to rebuild the party. There is no excuse, however.

We can't run a 50 state strategy. We can't run a 254 county strategy in Texas. We are the people, and we need to run a strategy based on every single precinct, in every state. If you are a county chair for the Democratic party, I challenge you. If you have a precinct that had only one Democratic voter, you need to convince that person to be county chair. We must have a precinct chair in every precinct.

There isn't a county in Red Texas that doesn't include a voting Democrat. There shouldn't be a county that doesn't have a county chair.

Click through and read this story. Grassroots politics counts. Especially when it matters.

DeLay Replacement Process Shines Light On Precinct Chair Vacancies - FortBendNow: "As Republican Party officials in four counties prepare for the impending resignation of U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, increasing attention is focusing on a seemingly mundane side issue: Precinct chair vacancies.

But with precinct chairman about to play a key role in naming DeLay’s replacement in the race against Democrat Nick Lampson for Congressional District 22, vacant precincts – and how or whether they will be filled – have become an election issue.

The reason involves politics and math."

Taylor County Democrats: Capitol Annex » Leininger Must See The Writing On The Wall

Taylor County Democrats: Capitol Annex » Leininger Must See The Writing On The Wall: "Capitol Annex picks up on something I wrote about for Burnt Orange Report. I believe that one of the reasons Susan King squeaked out a victory in the GOP primary is because she was the Parent PAC candidate, and Kevin Christian was the recipient of Leinginger money. Moderate Republicans are on the rise. Read the rest of this great piece.

Capitol Annex » Leininger Must See The Writing On The Wall:"

Cities learn from blackout

Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News:

The GOP keeps telling us everything changed after 9/11. I agree. The government has become totally imcomptent. We can't handle our own energy shortages, much less anything caused by terrorism. Big Energy is just looking for more welfare. We need to rid this country of welfare queens. Let's start with Exxon and Haliburton.

"Monday’s rolling 15-minute blackouts caught some cities, police departments and Dallas Area Rapid Transit off guard, leaving them with no warning of when or where neighborhoods and traffic signals would lose power.
Also Online

ERCOT: Electric supply OK today

At DART, one of the first indications of power supply problems came when staffers in the rail operations nerve center looked at their wall-sized control board and started noticing electricity disruptions up and down the lines.

'We didn’t receive any notice. We just started experiencing it,' said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons.

TXU Electric Delivery began the blackouts as soon as it received a directive from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s electric grid operator, said TXU spokeswoman Carol Peters.

'We notified the police as soon as we knew,' she said. 'It was a fast-moving, dynamic situation. We had to act quickly to avoid a blackout.'"