Partying with the Johnsons

Last night, the LBJ Foundation celebrated President Johnson's 100th birthday with a big barbecue on the ground of the LBJ Presidential Library at the University of Texas. Thousands of Texans ate Rudy's Barbecue, sipped iced tea and savored ice cream for dessert -- although, unfortunately, the ice cream had run out by the time I got there. Still, it was nice to see all the people there.





As dusk fell over Austin, the U.T. Tower lit up with "100" in a tribute to the lifelong Texan and former 36th President.





In the gathering dusk, the LBJ Library and the beautiful fountain in front of it looked lovely.

Happy Birthday, LBJ!

Today is former President and legendary Texan Lyndon Johnson's 100th birthday. Growing up in Texas, he was one of my heroes. He was bigger than life and had a charismatic, fascinating history. Besides, his birthday was the same as mine.

I opposed the Vietnam War, but I think even then had some primal loyalty to Johnson as a Texan. In retrospect, I think he was one of the great Presidents of our nation's history, and I still consider myself a fan. I love to go out to the LBJ boyhood home in Johnson City or to the state and national park at the LBJ Ranch. I always try to stop by his grave under the spreading oaks next to the river and pay my respects.

The Real Deal on the Real ID Act

(Cross-posted at Burnt Orange Report.)

In 2005, Congress passed the REAL ID Act, which (among other provisions) directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to meet a 2008 year-end deadline for completing 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The Act also gave DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff broad authority to waive property rights, environmental, labor and other laws in order to get the job done. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case of Defenders of Wildlife vs. Chertoff, in effect legitimizing the huge grants of power given to DHS in the REAL ID Act.

You could spend hours reading up on the REAL ID Act and all its implications -- or you could listen to two very informative news programs on your local community radio station. This week, two of KOOP's public affairs shows will be examining the REAL ID Act and its provisions assaulting the civil liberties of all Americans. The two shows are TEXAS POLITICS TODAY and SHADES OF GREEN.

On TEXAS POLITICS TODAY, airing Wednesday from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT, Melissa Del Bosque of the Texas Observer, whose coverage of the border wall controversy along the Rio Grande has won national acclaim, will discuss the border wall battle and the Chertoff decision. Melissa's coverage can be viewed here, here and on the Observer’s blog.

(N.B. -- TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced and co-hosted by yours truly.)

On SHADES OF GREEN, airing Thursday from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. CDT, a representative of the national Defenders of Wildlife organization will talk about that organization's lawsuit. Sheila Dean, an activist and blogger working on REAL ID issues, will also appear on Thursday's show.

KOOP, "the little station that could," is Austin's only community-owned radio station. It shares the FM 91.7 radio frequency with KVRX, the University of Texas student radio. It also streams live over the Web at http://www.koop.org/. KOOP is on the air on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and on weekends from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Rick Perry Celebrates Milestone

The Houston Chronicle notes this morning that Rick Perry has now served the most consecutive days as Governor of Texas in history. (Bill Clements, having served two nonconsecutive four-year terms, still holds the overall longevity record Perry will surpass in December.)

Is Rick Perry better off than he was eight years ago? Certainly. He was then in his second year as Lieutenant Governor, his star hitched to George Bush's acendance to the presidency. Eight years later, he is not hitched to Bush's plummeting popularity and the emerging consensus that history will judge him one of our worst presidents. Perry, by contrast, is mildly popular, although his approval rating will continue to decline. He faces what could be a formidable challenge from Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2010 Republican primary, although he's stared her down twice before. (I am a member of the "Perry for Republican Nominee in 2010" club, since I happen to believe that a) Texas desperately needs a change of direction at the top and b) Perry will be the easiest Republican to beat.)

Whenever he leaves office, Perry will undoubtedly become a rich man. He's been an effective advocate for all manner of government profiteers, from private prison corporations to Spanish highway construction conglomerates to pharmaceutical companies. He epitomizes, in my opinion, the recessive gene of modern Republicanism's dual fixation on Government As The Enemy and Profit Maximization As The Only Social Value -- government as something to be mocked and ridiculed while feathering your friends nests' with no-bid contracts and thumb-on-the-scale public policy subsidized by taxpayers. In their gentleman's code, the elected officials and bureaucrats who pave the profiteers' way are rewarded with private-sector sinecures in the form of directorships or cushy positions as fixers.

So Rick Perry continues along his path, smarmily criticizing the "waste and inefficiency" of the government that pays $10,000 a month for him to live in a swanky Barton Creek home and biding his time until he cashes in.

Is Texas better off than it was eight years ago? You tell me. Our schools are worse, with the latest financing fix already inadequate and graduation rates declining. Our universities, victims of legislative inattention and malfeasance for a generation, are skyrocketing tuition and fees to make ends meet while Perry readies to do to higher education what No Child Left Behind did to K-12 education. The Texas economy is, Perry says, strong, although that has not translated into a better standard of living for most Texas families. Transportation continues to be a problem: Texas is growing fast and its transportation infrastructure is not keeping pace, in part at least because of Perry's unwillingess to ask Texans to invest in infrastructue improvements. Our prisons are overcrowded and our prison guards underpaid.

Congratulations, Governor. You're doing a heckuva job.

Molly's Bench

Molly Ivins died fifteen months ago, leaving a huge vacuum in (progressive) journalism -- and in the lives of many friends. She was a fixture in her Travis Heights neighborhood. Last night, those neighbors and other friends came together to dedicate a bench in Molly's honor at Big Stacy Park. There was a nice little ceremony where several friends shared some memories of Molly. Sweetest moment: Genevieve and Peter, who met at a Final Friday party at Molly's house five years ago this month and subsequently married, being the first to smooch on the newly-dedicated bench.

The dedication was followed by a Final Friday party, like the ones Molly hosted at her home for several years. Nice group of people, from different walks of life, coming together to share stories and food. In honor of Molly, the suggested cuisine was fried chicken and champagne.

It was a balmy Austin spring evening, and clouds eventually filled the sky. Soon they were backlit with silent lightning flashes. On my way home the storm hit, sheets of rain crashing over the windshield, occasional hailstones thumping on the roof. By the time I got home the brunt of it had passed, and so I sat on my patio, listening to distant thunder and the steady ticking of rain on the leaves.

R.I.P. Lena Guerrero, 1957-2008

I Consider Myself One of the Fortunate Few

According to BusinessWeek, Texas has surpassed New York as home to the most Fortune 500 companies. Fortune magazine annually compiles the list. This year, Texas is identified as home to 58 Fortune 500 companies, compared to 55 for New York and 52 for California. No wonder Arrrggghhh-nold is begging people to come work in California.

In other news, Texas Governor Rick Perry briefly visited an emergency room last night after he strained his shoulder patting himself on the back.

Happy San Jacinto Day!

Today is the 172nd anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, where a Texian force of 700 surprised and defeated a Mexican army force of about 1,400 under the commands of Generals Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and Martin Perfecto de Cos. The battle was brief but brutal, and was followed by the massacre of many of the surrendering Mexican soldiers.

Santa Anna was captured after the battle and brought before a wounded General Sam Houston, commander of the Texian forces. Houston understood that Texas's best hope of independence lay in negotiating with Santa Anna (while holding him hostage) and so resisted his subordinates' entreaties to hang the Mexican President. Eventually, Santa Anna signed the Treaty of Velasco with the fledgling nation's new President, David Burnet. Santa Anna then traveled to Washington, D.C., where United States President Andrew Jackson confirmed his nation's interest in the independence of the new republic.

The Battle of San Jacinto changed the destinies of both the United States of America and the United States of Mexico.

Twenty Years and Counting

This weekend was my 20-year law school reunion. It was held, of course, here in Austin, with a morning's worth of continuing legal education programs. a luncheon on the lawn at the Law School, and a dinner party for the Class of '88 that evening.

It was great seeing everyone. In many ways, it felt like we'd just gone our separate ways -- friends instantly recognized each other, classroom antics and Sixth Street sorties were re-lived, and former professors were recalled and, in some cases, roasted. (There were plenty of ears burning in Austin that night.)

In other ways, it was difficult if not impossible to summarize the 20 years of ups, downs, triumphs, disappointments, and just plain changes we all have lived through. Most of my classmates knew I'd gone to work for Governor Ann Richards shortly after law school -- but that was 15 years and five jobs ago. I've also bought a house, bought a ranch, married, sold the ranch, and divorced in that time. I've also lost both parents and had other experiences that, in many ways, transformed me as much as, or more than, anything that's happened in my professional career.

And every one of my classmates has those same stories: marriage, kids, some divorces, the death of parents and friends -- even the deaths of classmates. It's hard to compress all that into a luncheon and a dinner party, but we made a nice start of it this weekend. Hopefully we'll stay in better touch in the future.

Some pictures from the alumni events this weekend are here.

Barack Obama: Boogie Back To Texas

I already posted about the Obama event at the Austin Music Hall on Thursday evening. Barack Obama came by and visited a crowd of 500 supporters who'd watched the CNN/Univision debate and then enjoyed some fine Texas music.

After Obama's speech, he shook hands with many supporters, then returned to the stage to thank the entertainers. Even though he mispronounced Joe Ely's name, he charmed the crowd and ended up singing a call-and-response "Boogie Back To Texas" with Ray Benson.

Check out the YouTube video below:

Bill Clinton Stumps East Texas With ... Henry Cuellar?

I read in the Rio Grande Guardian where Henry Cuellar accompanied, and introduced, former President Bill Clinton on his swing through east Texas yesterday. This in spite of the fact that Cuellar's Laredo-based district is hundreds of miles from the Piney Woods.

"I don't know why they asked me to go, but I'll be happy to support the Hillary campaign whether it's in South Texas or whether it's in East Texas,” said Cuellar. “It's an honor that they've asked me to do this."

Maybe they wanted to use Cuellar there because nobody in east Texas would know or remember that ... well, to put it kindly, Henry Cuellar is not exactly from the Democratic wing of the Denmocratic Party. He's like Joe Lieberman, with less charisma.



I mean, seriously, are the Clinton people aware of this? Paying attention? I'm a little mystified.

Tecaboca

Sunset, Tecaboca, Friday, February 8, 2008.

I am out in the Hill Country for the weekend. I am at the Tecaboca Christian Renewal Center, on whose board I intermittently serve. Tecaboca is located in the Hill Country northwest of Kerrville, and is one of my favorite places on earth. I have been coming here, and involved with the place and its going-ons for over 35 years.

It's beautiful tonight -- not a cloud in the sky. The sunset was sublime and gorgeous, my picture capturing only a sliver of its tranquil beauty. This evening, my friend John and I went into Kerrville and had dinner at the Cowboy Steakhouse, our favorite restaurant in town. By the time we got back out here, night had fully fallen.

The moon's glow but a sliver in the western sky, its whole orb visible in the crystalline night. Stars taking on familiar patterns as they slowly wheel across the sky. The air cold and clear and so dry that breath does not fog.

Tomorrow more people come, but for tonight the only sound is the water of Johnson Creek washing over the dam.

Save the Christmas Mountains!

If you love the Big Bend region of Texas as much as I do, you've been by turns astonished, dismayed, and pissed off by the comical attempts of Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson to sell the Christmas M0untains in West Texas to the highest (or whatever) bidder. If you've not been keeping up with the story, here's a little background from the Observer.)

Karen Brooks at the Dallas Morning News, who has been covering the story for months, reports that the National Park Service has submitted a proposal for managing the Christmas Mountains as part of the Big Bend National Park.

Forrest Wilder at the Texas Observer blog summarizes the NPS proposal:

The NPS would manage the property as a backcountry area for hiking, primitive camping, and horseback riding. The advantages of NPS management vs. privatization, according to the proposal, are:

1. The area would be permanently protected and preserved as part of the national park.

2. Public use of the area would be assured and the public would be able to participate in the planning process.

3. The park has extensive experience in managing public use in backcountry environments including law enforcement, search and rescue and emergency medical expertise.

4. The park can provide a full range of professional educational and interpretive services which are essential to a safe and enjoyable experience in a rugged and remote area.

5. The park has an excellent resource management staff including wildlife biologist, physical scientist, geologist, botanist and archeologist. In addition, we have access to numerous NPS resource specialists and academic institutions.

It sounds like a better deal to me. If you want to help save the Christmas Mountains, go to the Environment Texas website and access their user-friendly tools to send an email to members of the School Land Board and their bosses, Rick Perry and Greg Abbott.

To inspire you, I've included a smattering of pictures of the Christmas Mountains.

Pique Oil

I am slowly working my way through the latest issue of Texas Monthly. The main story is "35 People Who Will Shape Our Future." That's because TM is 35 years old this year. Get it?

Anyway, the issue came out about a week ago. Even though I am a subscriber, I looked up the story online because I wanted to see what it said about me. You can imagine my surprise when I found out I was NOT one of the 35 people who will shape Our Future.

I had coffee with a friend today, and mentioned the story. Her comment? "No one from Texas is shaping the future, except maybe in Texas." She could be right; the state that created groundbreakers like Denton Cooley and Ross Perot and business innovators like Texas Instruments and Dell Computers seems to have lost some of the initiative in recent years.

So far, the most interesting article I've read is "The Gospel According to Matthew," about Houston investment banker Matthew Simmons. Simmons for years has been arguing that we've reached the "peak oil" point, and that the world's oil production will decline in a curve that approximately mirrors the curve by which it rose. I was first introduced to the concept of peak oil in Kevin Phillips' American Theocracy, in which he tries to create a Unified Field Theory of declining energy reserves, rising religious fundamentalism, international finance and global geopolitics.

Anyway, Mimi Swartz's article on Simmons is good reading, and there is a link to an interesting interview about the Shrinking Energy Pie. The sad thing about both articles is that their subjects (Simmons, Nate Hagens of The Oil Drum and Matt Savinar of Life After the Oil Crash) seem pretty blindered about conservation and alternative energy; in their scenarios, oil gets to $200 a barrel and people start shooting at each other. Let's hope there's a middle ground: more serious conservation efforts (and some government leadership on those efforts; Dick Cheney calls conservation "a sign of personal virtue" -- God knows he has few enough of those) and alternative forms of energy (again, with some government leadership thrown in).

Creationists Getting Creative

I've posted a couple times already (here and here) about the folks from the Institute of Creation Science in Dallas who want the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to allow them to offer an online master's of science education degree. I first heard about the story from the Texas Observer, and then the MSM got a hold of it.

Anyway, the San Antonio Express-News is reporting today that the creationists have asked the Coordinating Board to delay a final decision on its request until April, to "do justice to the concerns (the board) raised." In other words, they do not have the votes to get the program approved. So count on THECB board members getting importuned for the next three months to either approve the program or face eternal damnation in hell.

Creationism In Higher Education, Part Duh

Ralph K.M. Haurwitz has a story in today's Austin American-Statesman about the controversy over the Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research's effort to certify a master's degree program in science education -- by which they mean teaching creationism. I've already written about an interesting Texas Observer post about the internal Coordinating Board politics of the issue.

According to the article, the school's bylaws

show that students and faculty members are required to believe that humans did not evolve from animals but were created in fully human form from the start, that God created all physical and living things in the universe in six days, and that anyone who rejects Jesus Christ will be consigned to "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

If people want to believe that, that is fine. If you want to teach it to your children, that is fine. But let's not call it science.

There's another quote in the story that bothers me. Attempting to justify the Institute's program, its science education department chair Patricia Nason said, according to Haurwitz, "that most students wind up teaching at Christian schools but that they learn about evolution and are qualified to teach in public schools."

Wait a minute. I went to Christian (Catholic) schools. I always thought that, although private schools are not subsidized by the state, they have to be accredited in order to offer diplomas. Does TEA (which may not be the accrediting agency, but which decides which diplomas will be recognized) actually allow children to graduate from high school in Texas who've been taught that the world was created in six 24-hour days and evolution is a Satanic hoax?

I guess I've assumed that, public or private, eleemysonary (fancy word for K-12) schools in Texas had to offer a relatively standardized curriculum. 2+2=4, not 5, and all that. They can additionally offer religious instruction (which I received), but when it comes to readin', writin' and 'rithmetic, they gotta keep it in the middle of the fairway.

John Fogerty at Fred Baron's

As I mentioned in a previous post, I attended the terrific holiday party hosted every year by Fred Baron and Lisa Blue in Dallas. About 1500 people attended and had a great time. The headlineers this year were Eric Burdon and the Animals and John Fogerty and his band. Terrific music, much appreciated by the guests.

Here's a picture of John Fogerty. You can see more of my pictures of the evening here.

Have You Ever Seen Dallas ... ?

I am in Dallas this morning, having attended Fred Baron and Lisa Blue's fabulous annual holiday party. Featured entertainment: Eric Burdon and the Animals, and John Fogerty and his band. More on that later.

Because it was in the 80s in Austin yesterday, I was dressed cool and casual and had the windows open on Sage the Explorer. Coming into the Metroplex, I hit a wall of cool air, the leading edge of the cool front that's now covering most of Texas. In about five minutes, the outside temperature dropped from 79 to 67! It's not often you experience a 12-degree swing in the temperature that quickly, and it was pretty cool.

Mikal Watts Leaves U.S. Senate Race, Clears Field For ... Me

Mikal Watts withdrew from the U.S. Senate race this morning, as I knew he would. As much as I tried to keep it a closely-guarded secret, loose talk about my potential candidacy had spread a little too far. Watts knew -- as any reasonably astute observer of Texas politics would know -- that with me in the race, the over-40, balding white professional male candidate profile was sewn up. Voters don't want to choose between over-40, balding white professional males for Senate any more than they want to choose between Arby's and Burger King when they're ordering pizza.

Watts, by the way, steadfastly insists that he's 39 years old. Yeah, right.

Texas voters, of course, will be even more pained having to choose between an empty-headed sycophant who looks like he got sent over from Central Casting and an Afghan war veteran whose biggest leadership challenger to date has been organizing emergency food, water and shelter for over 7,000 Katrina evacuees. Please -- like we all haven't had relatives drop in unexpectedly!

For that reason, I am announcing the formation of an exploratory committee -- actually, a couple guys who'll meet at the Putt-Putt on Lamar and then have a pitcher of beer at the old gas station across the way -- to determine whether I should take the next step in running for the U.S. Senate, to wit, calling someone to ask what the next step would actually be. Keep posted for further thrilling developments.

In the meantime, here's Mikal Watts' (Who? See how quickly we forget?) statement:

"For the last five months I have been exploring a race for the United States Senate because I believe that our junior senator, John Cornyn, has let Texas down and is more concerned with his cronies and friends in Washington than with what's best for Texas.
"After spending the last several months putting everything into this campaign, I have seen the toll this effort has taken on my young children. For these reasons, my wife and I have made the decision that I will not be seeking the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in 2008. I was brought up to believe that public service is a noble endeavor and I will continue to be involved at some level in the future. However, I realize that my time now should be devoted to serving my children so they may grow up in a healthy environment with both parents at home to meet their needs.
"The reasons for creating my exploratory committee still exist. As I have criss-crossed the state and met and talked with tens of thousands of good Texans, it is evident how much the people of Texas want and need a Senator who will fight every day for their interests and not the special interests. We need to elect a new Senator in Texas and I will personally do everything possible to support the Democratic nominee.
"It is hard to express the gratitude I feel for all the support my family and I have received as we have pursued this effort. I know that our vision for the future of Texas is one that all of our friends and supporters share. It's been one of the greatest blessings of my life for their faith in me, and for all of their hard work over the past months. While the decision not to seek the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate has been a difficult one, I know that it is the right one for my family at this time."

Where Do They Find These People?

Michael Chertoff, the Homeland Security Secretary, has decided that the greatest threat to our national security and, indeed, the American Way of Life is: trash.

In an interview with the Associated Press published yesterday, he announced yet another justification for the hare-brained border fence scheme into which the Bush Administration wants to pour somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 billion dollars. Nice neighborhood.

This time, it's personal. "Illegal migrants really degrade the environment. I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."

Numero Uno: He's seen pictures? What, he's never been here? Geez.

Numero Dos-O: Michael Chertoff is from New Eff-ing Jersey. He's got a lot of nerve complaining about something as innocuous as human waste and discarded bottles. If he thinks that's "the worst thing you can do to the environment," he is seriously off his rocker. His "homeland" is one of the world's most polluted inhabited areas. Yet, in what would ordinarily pass for a distinguished career as a U.S. Attorney, including a stint as head of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, Chertoff never acted against environmental crooks.

The problem is, with no one seriously believing the fence is going to keep anyone out and even reactionary border governors like Rick Perry ridiculing the very idea, Chertoff and the Administration have to keep a straight face and issue new rationales for the border fence on what seems to be virtually a monthly basis.

Remind you of any wars we're fighting? And seriously, where do they find dumbasses like Chertoff?