The New Face of the Republican Party of Texas

Sometimes this stuff just writes itself.

The Houston Chronicle and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, among others, are reporting that Talmadge Heflin is the new executive director of the Texas Republican Party.

Heflin is a 22-year veteran of the House and, in 2003, chaired the Appropriations Committee. He has his name and fingerprints on the budget that cut over 150,000 children from the CHIP rolls, reneged on the state's promise to help pay for its teachers' health insurance, and gutted funding for a wide variety of other necessary programs.

The voters of his district showed their appreciation in 2004 by kicking him out in a race against political novice Hubert Vo. That's right: a 22-year incumbent in a Republican district lost to a first-time candidate in an election where George Bush's name was above his on the ballot.

The 2004 race was close -- the final margin was 33 votes. In 2006, Heflin called for a rematch against Vo, and this time lost by 10 percentage points. Ladies and gentlemen, the voters have spoken!

Since leaving office, Heflin flirted with (read: begged Perry to help him get) the job of director of the Texas Lottery Commission and then became a "visiting fellow at the Center for Fiscal Policy Studies at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank." In other words, he needs the job.

Take a look at that picture. Is that a poster boy for what is wrong with the Republican Party in Texas, or what?

Lady Bird Lake

The Austin City Council today formally renamed Town Lake as Lady Bird Lake, in honor of Lady Bird Johnson, who passed away July 11 at the age of 94.

It's very fitting, and wonderful tribute to the former First Lady. As several news outlets have reported -- including this video from Veronica Castelo at News 8 Austin -- Lady Bird played the key role in transforming what had been little more than an open sewer running through downtown into a beautiful lake, with its accompanying hike-and-bike trail that is one of Austin's crown jewels.

Thanks, Lady Bird.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Once upon a time, I cherished the hot, sunny summers we have in Texas. As I got older, though, the heat and humidity began to wear me down, so that I entered middle age as a fan of cooler summers. I even decided I liked it raining.

Well, enough is enough. This has been the wettest summer of my memory. And, according to KVUE News, the rainy weather -- including more "rain bombs" such as have struck Gainesville, Marble Falls, and D'Hanis this summer -- will continue into the fall.

The average rainfall for Austin for an entire year is around 32 inches. We have recorded over 34 inches already in 2007, at basically the midway point. Yeesh.

Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock

Terrific writing and inspired performances. The best surprise is Alec Baldwin, who brings wonderful comic timing and deadpan delivery to his role as a network executive. Here's a sample of Alec clips from one episode.

If you have not seen this show, you definitely need to set aside a Thursday evening for it.

Goodbye, Lady Bird

I got up this morning and went down to Town Lake to see Lady Bird Johnson's funeral cortege and pay my last respects to her. It was nice -- on a hillside just north of where MoPac crosses Town Lake, a group of about 50 or 60 people gathered, chatting quietly in the warm sun while they waited, then respectfully standing as the cortege went by. Many held Texas or U.S. flags and waved them in final salute. A few called out farewells. Someone in one of the family limousines stuck her hand out a tinted glass window and waved back.

Farewell, Lady Bird. I'll come see you at the ranch when everything's settled down.

Lady Bird Johnson, 1912-2007

Sleeping With The Enemy

In the days of Woodward and Bernstein, journalists got to the top of their profession by getting the story – interviewing their subjects, exhaustively researching public and private document, and poring over records. Nowadays, journalists are getting the story by getting on top of their subjects.

Last week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles confirmed that he and Mirthala Salinas, a local Telemundo reporter, had been having an affair for some time.

When the affair began, Salinas was covering Villaraigosa as a city hall reporter, but was reassigned by the station after she told them about the affair. As one of the station’s anchors, however, she was the one to announce that Villaraigosa and his wife were divorcing last month, without admitting her homewrecking role. That breach of journalistic etiquette is what caused the Los Angeles Daily News to break the affair story. It also forced Telemundo to place her on leave while it investigates the story.

Now Villaraigosa is being accused of another affair, this time with a city planning commissioner, who’s vehemently denied it. "I don't believe that the details of my personal life are relevant to my job as mayor," said Villaraigosa to reporters, adding, “Hey, anyone wanna go to the shot bar with me?”

Meanwhile, in our nation’s heartland, Chicagoans agonized over the disappearance of Lisa Stebic, who was last seen by her husband on the night of April 30. Over time, of course, suspicions began to center on Lisa’s husband, Craig, who was in the middle of divorcing her. Chicago’s TV stations fed the story with daily reports of search-and-rescue efforts, including efforts by divers to search local retention ponds. But Channel 2 reporter Amy Jacobson went the extra mile: she was videotaped hanging out by the Stebics’ pool in a bikini. When a rival station aired the video, her station fired her. Jacobson told the Chicago Sun-Times, “I'm crushed. I can't lie to you. I'm devastated." Warned by her superiors at the station to protect herself, she avers that she wore SPF 30 sunscreen “and reapplied each time I got out of the water.”