You are going to shit yourself when you watch this. Pat Robertson reports on a "Purity Siege" along I35. They are going to set people on fire. They expect to change laws, remove leaders and rise up to make this a Christian Nation.

A man is holding at least one hostage at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire.

Governor Rick Perry recently endorsed Rudy Giuliani, you know the adulterous governor of New York? It turns out that the latest top news in the Giuliani campaign is that he apparently expensed his adulterous rendevous trips to the city of New York.

So, Perry...let me ask you...as someone opposed to same sex marriage because it's a major threat to the sanctity of marriage...what's your position on men that cheat on their wives and then expense their affair to the taxpayers?

We're listening. Start your spin.

But wait a second, this isn't some great journalism victory over censorship...

A student-written article about drug use caused the principal to pull the paper. After a review and a written response from the principal, the article is now going out. When the principal first pulled the newspapers I know everyone cried foul and censorship and "Oh well, that's Williamson County" (or was that just me?) But, here's a couple of very key statements about this controversy I hope you folks don't skip over.

1. The article claimed that counselors saw 15-25 students a week with drug problems. The actual number is more like four. Is embellishment one of the tenets of good journalism?

2. The anonymous source thing. If the above statement is so out of whack and presented as a fact, how can you then believe anything else in the article?

The article about rampant drug use in a school is damaging. It's damaging to the school, to the district, to the careers of the people responsible for those children and to rely on some kid with no journalistic integrity is, being generous, a stretch.

Then there is the student law center's comments:
"The picture of a government official collecting newspapers from preventing to be read is a disturbing one, and I don't want to leave that picture in our next generation of citizens," said Mike Hiestand, attorney and legal consultant with the Student Press Law Center.

DUM DUM DUMMMMM! That's right! Government censorship of media!! Run for your protest kits today! Why didn't the law center say something about the picture of a high school kid writing bad facts in a story that can damage reputations and careers being a picture that nobody wants to see damage the integrity of journalism? Oh...because that's not sensational and likely to get all the reporters writing this story up as some great "freedom of the press" bullshit.

I hope this kid isn't walking around the school like they are the big shit because as even the school's sponsor said, "overall an okay article." Ah, the kid is already striving for mediocrity at what? Sixteen? Dare to dream, kid...dare to dream.

*Updated 12:24 p.m.*
I cannot believe that the first thing I read when I wake up and kick someone out of my bed is that this kind of bullshit is not over and done with by now? I thought we had all quietly moved on regarding this "creationism" and "intelligent design" being taught in schools. But No...here we are again.

Comer was fired after she forwarded an email referring people to a book directly related to one of the biggest threats to science education in America.

Comer was put on 30 days paid administrative leave shortly after she forwarded an e-mail in late October announcing a presentation being given by Barbara Forrest, author of "Inside Creationism's Trojan Horse," a book that says creationist politics are behind the movement to get intelligent design theory taught in public schools. Forrest was also a key witness in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case concerning the introduction of intelligent design in a Pennsylvania school district. Comer sent the e-mail to several individuals and a few online communities, saying, "FYI."

The call to fire Comer came from Lizzette Reynolds, who previously worked in the U.S. Department of Education. She also served as deputy legislative director for Gov. George W. Bush. She joined the Texas Education Agency as the senior adviser on statewide initiatives in January.

"Creationism" is not science. You can call it whatever you want to call it, but trying to insert the religious...excuse me, Christian teachings, into science education is not science. The mere fact that I have to continually point this out to people that are supposed to be educated and educators is, quite frankly, pissing me off.

Quit putting politics ahead of education goals. As an employer, I would not hire some retard that believes it to be an indisputable fact that God created the Heavens and the Earth in seven days. You are ruining our children's future with your partisan politics and false claims of a war against Christianity. This is not about religion or Faith, it's about destroying science and the pursuit of learning and value of a good education.

Who the hell is behind this? Who the hell thinks it is ok to fire the state's science education leader because she strongly believes in science? Was this the result of the new head of the TEA's loyalty to the governor and his constant pandering to the far right?

Cause, I'll tell you it kind of has the stink of that all over it to me.

The science blogs are all abuzz. Abuzz? They are just at outraged as I was. I feel so validated. I'm about to move from outrage to Righteous Indignation. Watch out!!

ScienceBlogs: Pharyngula (That's so science-y I don't even know what it is)
ScienceBlogs: Traveling From Kansas
Bad Astronomy Blog
The Austringer

So now we need to confirm. Is Robert Scott merely carrying out the Perry Agenda for creationism in public schools?

This hilarious video is from Red State Update and tells us all we need to know about why Huckabee should earn our support.

Maybe just for the proposed new slogan...Huckabee! Fuck Me!

PD thinks that since I am a feminist that I can post on BookWoman and how it is in danger of closing. But I admit, I've never visited BookWoman, the only feminist bookstore in Texas. Even so, I knew it was there. There was always the option.

Sadly, it seems that not enough Austin women are visiting the store, because BookWoman is having to hold fundraisers to stay afloat. According to the Save Bookwoman site, they are trying to raise enough funds to relocate to a less expensive location, since boutiques are slowly taking over their current Lamar location.

There will be a fundraiser to support the store on the evening of Dec. 16. Details are still being figured out.

So . . . is the demise of feminist stores the fault of big box/internet bookstores? Is it just a sign of the changing times? Or is there still a real need for feminist bookstores?

But...it's Round Rock. Frankly, I'd rather take my chances.

KXAN asks us what would we ask a Republican presidential candidate if we got the chance. Check out the KXAN YouTube page and leave a comment or send your own video question. I could think of a few questions to ask!

Here's the PDF. Download file

The talking Larry Craig doll. (Sound)

Man, they should come up with a whole Closted GOP collection!

The Mark Foley Doll: Complete with real Instant Messenger mini-computer!
The Bob Allen Doll: Comes with scary black man and public restroom accessories
The Richard Curtis Doll: Complete with women's underwear and gay hustler buddy doll!
The Jim West Doll: Also includes gifts for young boys!

And maybe just in time for the holidays...
The Trent Lott doll: Gay hooker doll sold separately. Because there is no connection, but pre-order now and you'll receive a fat lobbying contract!

I've only been a lukewarm supporter of Mayor Wynn until yesterday afternoon. The AAS forced his rant to a construction crew into a story on page one of the news outlets. Insinuating that he threatened and cursed people out over a traffic tie-up.

The statement he released is beautiful. A work of art. Something that the state level press people in this town ought to frame and put on a wall. This is how you squash a story. This is how you deal with an annoying press story. Who is this media person that wrote this? I must know them...I must kiss them on the lips...with tongue.

Read the full statement in the permalink, but here's the zinger: "Did I use some rough language? You bet I did - and if I offended the sensitivities of those construction workers, I'm sorry about that."

Burrrrrrrrn.

The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call.(WSJ)

Consider this a how-to tip for all you governor's office staffers that are not allowed to delete your emails these days.

Make friends with a computer programmer. (This may take a LOT of effort as they are usually not very engaging or dynamic people). Win their trust and get them involved in whatever activity you are trying to cover up. Impress upon them the importance of not getting caught. Their ability to erase evidence will be for their own benefit as well as yours. Since they have a vested interest in staying out of jail, they will keep their damn mouth shut and train you on how to keep evidence from remaining on your hard drive.

This tip brought to you from the Black Ops Division of Pinkdome Incorporated. Available for hire.

I cannot read enough about the attorney in Austin charged with forging judge's signatures on bonds to get them out of jail. The attorney was arrested in August when the cops found crystal meth in his place. That's what ties all of this together. Meth will f' you up. It's not just rural kids, club gays and white trash in Waco cooking up the stuff.

I want to read more about this. I'm fascinated. How do you go from attorney to meth-head forging judge's names on bonds? Sad. Sad, empty lives and weak-willed people I guess.

Rep. Mike Krusee has announced he will not seek re-election. We'd heard the rumor a couple of weeks ago and it turns out it was true.

We heard another rumor about another politician in Round Rock, let's see if that one turns out to be true, too.

Krusee finally released a statement. It's weird that I saw the release from the Speaker's office about his decision before I saw Krusee's statement.

Rumors are floating that Senator Trent Lott's resignation is a pre-emptive move against an impending gay hooker scandal. Read all about it on Towleroad.

Larry Flynt has announced he will drop a bombshell report soon.

Mmmmm, juicy!

Here, you can read all about escort Benjamin Nicholas.(NSFW) His rates are reasonable and his available for travel. I would advise against going to that site because reading the reviews from patrons will have an affect on you...I don't know what kind of affect but I think my world view has been altered.

Tomorrow night there will be the Republican YouTube/CNN debates in Florida. I thought about making a video to send in, but I didn't think my question would get picked. When you start out with, "Which one of you is less like George Bush and why?" That was as softball as I could come up and then it just got nasty...there was a lot of swearing, pointing my finger at the camera and what may or may not have been a challenge to a fistfight.

I should really stop making YouTube videos when I'm drunk.

Mayor Wynn let a construction crew HAVE IT over blocking traffic on 5th Street one morning. Good for him! I need the Mayor to drive around this city a lot more often. A construction crew was blocking 5th Street during rush hour traffic. They are lucky all they got was a cussin'.

We're all for development, but you don't f'ing block traffic during rush hour in downtown.

TEAM WYNN!

I say we compile a list of intersections we need the Mayor to cuss out people that snarl traffic. Of course, we could also say that if we had real light rail in this town traffic would be on the road to relief instead of our Cap Metro train to nowhere.

Former Arkansas governor and current presidential candidate said he'd help Rick Perry find a triple-wide trailer to live in while the governor's mansion is being renovated. Huckabee said he would even come down here and help the governor put it up on blocks.

Shudder. That's some Whiskey Tango right there. As much as I think $10,000 a month in rent is extreme for the governor's temporary residence, I could not bear to see a trailer home in the middle of downtown Austin.

I mean, I bet he could have rented out a nice loft in the Plaza or something for like $3k a month, but a trailer? No.

Now Santa is supposed to say "Ha, Ha, Ha" since "Ho, Ho, Ho" is deemed offensive to women.. Eh, I think we ought to just make Santa say "WHORE, WHORE, WHORE" if we are trying to offend women...that are whores. What liberal whiny ass came up with this idea?

If I hear a Santa say "Ha! Ha! Ha!" I'm probably going to punch him in the face.

Ugh, who else is moving slow this morning. Four glorious days of relaxing, binge eating, purging, drinking, football and shopping. Seriously...what a life!

It's early so let's see if there's anything easy to talk about in the news. Oh look! Senator Lott is going to resign at the end of the year. So long, Trent. I hope your house is all rebuilt down there in Mississippi. Lott did a good job of redeeming himself after publicly insinuating that we'd be better off had a bigot and segregationist been elected president.

Obama Inhaled! Big freakin' deal. I see Romney was quick to jump in front of a microphone for a quote, though:

"I agree with the sentiment that nobody's perfect and most of us, if not all of us, in our youthful years have engaged in various indiscretions we wouldn't want to have paraded in the front of a newspaper," the former Massachusetts governor said in New Hampshire. "On the other hand if we're running for president, I think it's important for us not to go into details about the weaknesses and our own failings as young people for the concern that we open kids thinking that it's ok for them."

What else? Oh...it's f'ing freezing outside. I need a staffer to go start my car and get it warmed up for me.

Speaking of staffers...How many of you have been told not to email your regular contacts in the governor's office for the next few months because of the open records request from that dude in Wisconsin that prevents them from deleting emails? Do tell.

Ok. Y'all have a good morning. I'm going to go have another cup of coffee and will this mild hangover away. But, if you want to read a great article...here you go.

Fred.... don't be so quick to criticize Rudy. You might be his #2... if you can convince the GOP that GoodHair is not critical.

Now we know why TxDot can't take care of roads or its other jobs. They are too busy assigning an obscenity rating to vanity plates. Wonder if we could suggest some plates that would really be obscene? How about LIC 1 or for TxDot itself: ADUM-ORG?

You've read about the Saudia Arabian woman that was raped by seven men and then sentenced to receive 200 lashes with a bamboo stick and then six months in jail haven't you?

I am just as prepared to go to war with Saudia Arabia for violating women's rights as human beings as I am to go to war with a country full of suicide bombers. I get that they claim it's part of their religion. Under their laws, women cannot drive. In education, they are segregated. Male and female teachers have to meet via the phone or Internet. Women working at the bank have to enter through a separate door.

Let's get back to this whole religion thing...how convenient right? Our God says we can subjugate and oppress women. We can marry as many as we want and oh, they can't drive a car.

I can't...I, uh...But...They can't...Ugh..I don't even know where to start. I guess we could relate this to how Christians used the Bible to justify slavery. Or, I guess we could relate this to how, in America, some people justify the discrimination against gays. Maybe it's also kind of like how Christians want laws violating a woman's right to privacy over her own body.

Crap. We're just as bad as they are. I was all ready to sit in righteous judgment about how f'ed up their culture is and be full of moral outrage at how they treat women and then I realized...before I start chucking rocks at their culture maybe I ought to think about what I'm doing to fight to defend my own neighbors in America first.

Damn you, logical thinking! Damn you to hell!

It's 3:30 pm on the day before Thanksgiving, so damn near everyone should be heading out of the office. I hope that y'all in the Capitol are getting a few days off - heck, hopefully you're reading this from home. Let us know who the Grinches are up there ... who's being forced to work Friday or, God forbid, tomorrow?!

Well, I hope everyone has a nice holiday planned. I'm not going home this year, so I'll be in town. I love Thanksgiving and am kinda sad I won't be with the whole family this year. I am looking forward to a few days of rest.

One of the most memorable Thanksgivings I had was when I was 15 we all went up to New York and stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria and saw the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. For Thanksgiving dinner we ate at The Sea Grill in Rockefeller Center and went ice skating afterwords. It was such an awesome trip I still remember every detail of the trip.

Oil is clearly heading past that $100 mark. Every time I fill up the car, I'm seeing that it gets more and more expensive. It was $40, then $53, now it's $58 to fill 'er up. Thankfully, I changed jobs so my commute is significantly reduced. I was filling up twice a week, now it's down to every two weeks.

What sort of budget adjustments will I have to make if prices keep going up? Well, for me..none, because I'm rich. But, for poor people it certainly has to be something they think about. It upsets me because I hate to spend money on something like gasoline. On the other hand, those hybrid cars are so f'ing hideous I couldn't possibly be seen driving one. It's quite the conundrum.

Governor Rick Perry today decided Republican Mark Shelton and Democrat Dan Barrett would face off on December 18.

According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, city official announced they would move the City Council runoff to the same date.(QR)

Well that ought to go over like a turd in a punchbowl.

For a ton of overweight, middle America that made the trip of a lifetime to NYC for the holidays to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and real live Broadway Show, the holiday is ruined. Stagehands are on strike and talks broke down.

The writers in L.A. are on strike in an unrelated demand to get paid for the work they produce. Seriously? Can you believe? The writer's strike in L.A. is the most annoying. Have you seen the YouTube videos of the people on strike? You'd think they were standing up against genocide in Darfur. So very self-righteous...as all people in L.A. are, right? That whole we make the world go around attitude they have and the whole time you're thinking...uhm...you work in movies you dumb shit, you aren't curing cancer.

The latest news was that CBS News writers were going on strike.

What will we do? Where will we turn for our news and entertainment? Everybody panic!

Freddie Mac posts a $2 billion third-quarter loss. Oh. My. God. That's a lot of foreclosures. So much so that Congress is considering legislation to require banks to allow tenants in rental property up to six months continued lease if their home is foreclosed upon. There's also new crime up in neighborhoods with a lot of foreclosed houses. People are stealing copper wiring, hardware, appliances and siding off of foreclosed properties.

I know nobody wants to say it, but...still in a war we can't pay for, near record high oil prices, weak dollar oversees, billions in defaulted home mortgages...nervous anyone?

Here's a perfect opportunity for you wannabe bloggers!

Find out the deets by clicking the "permalink"

Do you ever read the craigslist postings in the "politics" section? I peruse it every once in a while to see what the level of crazy is and it's always off the chart. Everything is conspiracy theories, liberal whining or conservative facism. The postings are like they are written by crazed escapees from a mental institution.

The sad part is those people that post in there are walking amongst us.

FM1460 is the 'road of hope' for Round Rock's development. As plans for growth are well underway, money to improve the road has been snatched back by the feds and there they all sit....suckin' on a pickle.

The money cut out of the budgets means new roads aren't on the horizon for any of us, and the money left is going to be shifted to maintaining the existing roads we do have. Bring on some toll roads cause we need congestion relief just as bad as they need to fix that damn pothole from hell on Live Oak.

The reader comments on this news story break my heart. I can hardly believe what I read from ordinary citizens in what I thought was one of the most highly educated and progressive cities in the country.

Hey Y'all! Welcome to Friday. I am thrilled to put a period at the end of this week, how about you? Can you believe I haven't had any Veuve Clicquot since Sunday? This working 17 hour days is for the birds! I don't see how you poor people do it. I'm exhausted.

I didn't watch the YouTube/CNN debates last night. I turned it on, but kept the TV on mute. (Watching TV with it on mute is pretty much a standard thing around here.) Wolf Blitzer was the moderator. I guess he's got news credibility, but I'd rather watch Andersen Cooper. He's dreamy...and a Vanderbilt. That'll turn my East Coast motor on in NY minute...mmmm, old money...PLU (People Like Us) and all that.

I'll check in on y'all later in the day and maybe talk about politics and outrageous behavior and maybe one day soon we'll catch a Texas legislature in a public restroom soliciting gay sex and we'll all have something fun to talk about. Let's all hope!

Chris Bell is suing the Perry campaign. I took a look at the filed complaint. Robert Black has called the suite, "sour grapes." Well, maybe...kind of...but, technically the Perry campaign had the information but just did not bother to file it as required.

I've worked in heavily regulated industries for years and I can tell you that getting things into regulatory agencies on time is a priority in the business world. If you don't they have a tendency to walk into your building unannounced and start discussing things like "cease and desist" and "fines" and all the things people get fired for if the boss hears about. In politics, there's always an empty threat but with no backbone to actually impose the fine or shut something down. For that reason, I'd say it's not sour grapes but an attempt to introduce accountability into politics. The fact that the suit had to come from Chris Bell is more of an embarrassment to an agency that is supposed to monitor and control campaign spending reports than it is of Chris Bell trying to stir up some shit.

Candidate for Senator, Rick Noriega, will be traveling to Las Vegas to meet national Democratic Party donors this week. Now that millionaire Mikal Watts has dropped out of the race, Noriega is getting some attention from major donors. That's because people are starting to say, "Texas is in play."

I don't know about you, but sweeter words were never heard. Say it with me, "Texas is in play." Doesn't it fill you with a giddiness? That's not because I don't like Republicans and want Democrats to win every race. It's because I believe in a two-party system. I believe in debate and I despise one-party rule. I think it ruins America. We can see what one-party rule has done to Texas. This state has gone from being great to being mediocre. I don't care for mediocrity. I like to be number one. How about you?

You don't get to be number one by status quo, or challenge to one narrow school of thought. Laser focus and dogged ideology are not what make America great.

The Statesman is reporting that Perry neglected to file the required campaign finance reports during the election. The fact that the money came from controversial Texan, Bob Perry, also gives the story that unique angle.

Black said it wouldn't have made any difference if Texans had known before the election that Bob Perry (no relation to the governor) had given money to the association because the Houston builder, noted for financing the Swift Boat attacks against John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign, already was one of the governor's biggest campaign donors.

By unique, I mean the Statesman gets to somehow try to tie Rick Perry to the Swift Boat attacks against John Kerry. Robert Black's statement is unintentionally funny. He says that the voters were focused on the $2.5 million given to Chris Bell by a lawyer in Houston. Funny, though, because, the fact that Chris Bell got $2.5 million has nothing to do with the fact that the Perry campaign may have neglected, intentionally or unintentionally, to perform required submissions of campaign finance reports and could face serious fines for the act.

Who knows? Maybe Perry's treasurer was some A&M graduate that just couldn't quite grasp how to submit an Excel spreadsheet via email. Anything's possible.

I've been watching KXAN's series on Afghanistan. Did I mention they have a blog and YouTube videos? KXAN Austin News sent reporter Jenny Hoff to Afghanistan and so far we've seen her interview a Texas mom serving her tour in Afghanistan, a Round Rock soldier training Afghan Military, then his wife back here at home, and last night we followed her on a humanitarian mission to a village.

Her earlier blog posts were her personal accounts from the trip and now that I'm watching the produced for news versions, I am learning more about what the U.S. Military is doing over there. I have to say, it's changing my opinion a little bit. The images, heartbreaking that some of them are, show that our military is trying to rebuild that country.

Ok, so...to wrap up. Read the blog. Watch the YouTube videos. Then tune in and watch on KXAN. Was I clear?

Expect Craddick to release some of the House interim charges beginning tomorrow, with the remainder in the next few days.

And given the number of chairmen that have defected on him, he's having to load up the few committees left with loyalists - like appropriations, regulated industries, elections, county affairs, etc.

Remember when we feared those electronic voting machines and were convinced they could lead to rampant voter fraud? Then, we all got over it and resigned ourselves to their use. We used 'cognitive dissonance' to reassure ourselves that surely the electronic machines would be faster and even more accurate than the old ballots.

Then Houston had a voting error in their ballot and the vote totals had to be adjusted. My illusion was ruined and now election reform goes right back up to the top of my list.

Barack Obama stated that were he a Muslim, he would tell us. Well then. We aren't even sure why that came up. Is there some sort of effort to claim he is a Muslim.....which must means he is a terrorist....which must mean he will suicide bomb the White House if he's president.....then monkeys will fall from the sky and the earth will stop rotating on its axis.

Or...whomever is continuing this whisper campaign could just say..."he's black" and then we'd know what they really mean. What they really mean is that whomever is saying this is racist and thinks that the subtlety won't be lost on us.

A state representative in a runoff election infuriated civil rights leaders after she ended a conversation with the mother of the NAACP's local president by saying, "Talk to you later, Buckwheat."

It gets better, apparently her husband, Lenny, who is a member of the Democratic Party's State Central Committee, was indicted on charges of allegedly harboring illegal aliens through his construction business.

Niiice.

Ok. I can understand that there are things you should never do at work. But hitting on your boss? How in the hell will you ever get promoted? Even if the boss is a troll...

We may be many things -- but we are not vain! We are just CHEAP!!!!!

T. Boone Pickens has recently completed his $165 million to the OSU athletic program. How could we hook up our billionaires with some of our real needs?

Ok. Rick Perry has raised the specter of the terror of a Hillary Presidency. How about the terror of a Rick Perry vice presidency?

Florida legislator Bob Allen was the one that solicited some cop in a bathroom for oral sex...for $20 (cheap bastard) then denied it. He was found guilty and now the Speaker of the House is already calling for his resignation. "I have done nothing wrong, and my family, my God and my good constituents know that," Allen said as he left the courtroom flanked by his three attorneys. "We're going to continue to seek justice." I love how people are all about the rule of law until it applies to them.

See, here's the thing. If you are gay...that is o.k. Be a man and come out and deal with it. When you try to hide that it is going to lead to self-destructive behavior like this, Foley, Craig, that guy in Washington state, and so on and so forth.

What is worse for America? Gay men living their lives openly and honestly and contributing to society? Or anti-gay, self-loathing closet cases getting blow jobs from strangers in a public restroom. Pitiful, cowards and perverts.

John Washburn is successfully keeping Governor Rick Perry from deleting his emails. Perhaps we could get him to help us see the capitol videos of Leininger doing back-hall deals with Craddick.

To our nation's veterans: Thank you.

Now, Therefore, I, Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America , do hereby call upon all of our citizens to observe Thursday, November 11, 1954 , as Veterans Day. On that day let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.

Should you be at work? Mostly. Here's a list of what's closed in Austin.

Speaker Tom Craddick is out peddling his story of leadership. He leaves out the threats, arm-twisting and dirty tricks and gives a more subtle tale of majority rule. By majority rule he means crushing any opposition.

Do you remember when you had hope? When you thought naively that public service and policy and doing what is right for Texans would be what politics would be like? That you would get to make a difference? That you would get to use the power and influence of the State to make lives better from Tyler to El Paso?

Then you get elected or you get a job as a staffer or an a campaign and you find out it's not about that at all. It's about winning, it's about the game, it's about the campaign donations or the ambition of the candidate and if someone mentions "the people" it gets a hearty laugh in the office.

In spite of all that, I hold out hope that the voters will see through it all one day. One day they won't swallow the bullshit that comes from the people like Craddick and Perry and they'll vote for someone forthright and strong and courageous and honorable.

Every year, that hope fades. But, I have to keep it because how can I live a life so full of cynicism and pessimism about our future?

An activist learned that the governor's office purged all emails after seven days and since he is also a computer programmer he created a widget to send an open records request automatically every week. Once a request has been made, the office cannot delete the messages. The governor's office says they have disabled the auto-delete feature as of Thursday. Did someone hear Robert Black say the "F" word on Thursday?