The 31 page decision by the AG's office has been released. (Here's the PDF)

The AG says that it is up to the Legislature to make the rules and he's pretty much going to stay out of it. The opinion also states that "state officer" has not been defined by the Legislature, nor the courts. That means that impeachment cannot even be addressed until the definition is clear.

While the Speaker's office claims victory, the point is moot at this time because one of the first orders of business in the next Session is to adopt new rules and to elect a Speaker.

Craddick is already facing opponents in the election and if those opponents can win favor by vowing to be held accountable to the Members, they may get some folks off the fence. Also, several Craddick supporters are not running and others continue to desert him. Those that defected from his camp are sure to face opposition backed by the Craddick campaign war chest.

Basically, we won't be able to predict this until after the primaries and then the general elections...and mostly likely right up until they call for the damn vote.

Ouch.

I'll be in meetings out of town for most of the day. Will the AG's office have something to say about Craddick's power trip today? If so, and you know my private email...let me know. Otherwise, discuss amongst yourselves in the comments.

The Statesman finally got someone at the TEA to talk about the Comer issue.

What’s the lesson in this case?

Never manage (through) e-mail. Seriously, you should talk to people and really find out what they’re doing. I still think her supervisors needed to be alerted that this was going on. I still think the e-mail by Comer left the agency exposed. The whole situation has been a little disturbing to me. Maybe I should have seen the political side of it.

I will give Reynolds credit, though. She almost made me feel bad for her. This story is out of their hands now. Even if Comer was the wrong person for the job, the way this was handled was bad form.

Really the only thing that's going to make me have any faith in the TEA on this issue is to release a statement that says, "Evolution is science-based education. It is the role of the TEA to provide fact-based scientific theory in science education. Religious-based theories of science are not appropriate for science education, but entirely appropriate for religious studies classes."

Go ahead. I dare you. Let me just remind you that I'm a Christian. I believe in God. I also have enough Faith in my God that I can reconcile the fact that the Bible is not a literal translation of the facts, but a guide on how to live my life and achieve peace and serenity. I learned that in Church...not in the public school system.

It's Bill Hicks' birthday this weekend.

And if it's any consolation, crime is horrible here too.

shooting the in mall
shooting in the church
shooting at the bus stop
shooting at the door

In honor of the day, we thought you'd enjoy this video. Behold: We Arm The World

ps - Here's what the ACLU says about gun control.

Texas Tech and Texas Southern have both been put on accreditation probation. Tech says it was because they did not have their information ready in time for the review...but the website says they have been working on that since 2004. Uhm...shouldn't that be a priority?

Basically, what this says to employers is "Do not hire Tech graduates. Their college can't get its act together." (via)

Advice to students? Save your money and go to community college.

Remember a few weeks ago when that guy named Joe Horn in Pasadena killed two guys who were burgling his neighbor's house while a 911 operator told him not to? It's turning out to be a pretty big deal.

Quannell X, Houston Black Panther, thought it was bullshit and staged a sort of protest against the nothing that was happening to punish Joe Horn for the shooting of people.

This video of the event and the white supremacist mob scene that ensued complete with revving hog, only further proves that Pasadena is the worst of Florida and Louisiana transplanted to Southeast Texas.

Mr. Horn is white and the burglars, he told the 911 operator, were black. Yet the neighbors whose house Mr. Horn was protecting are Vietnamese. They later said they thought the two men had been stalking them...And both, the police say, were illegal immigrants from Colombia...

I actually know a few guys who've lived in Pasadena. They all went there to be with women they'd met online who had that crazy-eyes thing going on.

Have you ever heard a more quintessentially republican idea that this?

...federal Medicaid dollars would be redirected to help Texans pay for insurance that isn't Medicaid. It could be employer-sponsored insurance or private coverage.

At first I thought, hmm, this reminds me of a school vouchers program but for health care. But someone told me that I have first thought wrong disease, so I went to my second thought: This is like a school vouchers program if private schools were notorious for denying education to everyone the first five times they showed up. And if the voucher didn't cover the cost of tuition anyway. And if all private schools were run by like four huge corporations. Then I started to get mad, and my third thought was: Let's take all the federal Medicaid money the state is entitled to, do a little mathity-math, and cut everyone a check! You can spend it on health insurance like a chump, but I'm getting an iPhone. Constant access to WebMd will insure my health.

Not to go all Ivins on you guys, but can someone get out the pans! Is this the best we can come up with to take care of the health of Texans less fortunate in the money-department? Divert money away from Medicaid and give it to satanic insurance companies? Am I missing something about this that isn't a horrible idea, logistically and ideologically? Medicaid has its issues, but it's a relatively solid program. Doctors get paid, hospitals get paid, it's accountable, regulated, and sorta-kinda transparent. We should put effort into helping eligible people enroll and use it! I'm just saying.

"Hospitals are getting the same money," Hawkins said. "They're just getting it from a different source."

Oh, nevermind. It's the same money. I feel better.
And if health care policy wonkery doesn't crank your outrage chain, try this:

When in Rome.

Eugene Allan Poe, a descendent of Edgar Allan Poe was born March 10, 1937 in North Carolina and passed on November 28, 2007. He earned an Associate Degree from Lee College, Baytown TX, Bachelor of Science in History and Education, University of Houston; Master Degrees in Government and Education, University of Houston, and Post-graduate courses leading to Texas Certification in Learning Disorders, Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX. Mr. Poe, a former Dept. Chair of Government, ACC, was a full-time and part-time Professor, Vietnamese Student Advisor and Government Department Mentor. He also taught classes at UT Austin. Poe was a world traveler, he was always full of stories about his adventures in India especially up and down the West coast from Bombay to Goa, his home away from home was San Miguel, Mexico where he spent many hours on the beaches along the Texas/Mexico border.

But yes, as a fool for all things young Dustin Hoffman, I am trying to seduce you.

File under: cute republicans

When out campaigning for Rudy G. (I'm tired of trying to spell his last name, so we are done with that here), Perry said he'd prefer Mike Huckabee. Oops! Did I say that? I didn't mean to, I swear.

Right.

Perry is on the campaign trail for Rudy G. and I wonder if he tells people that in the great State of Texas he was re-elected with the overwhelming support of 39% of the voters. The thing about Texans is that they are very good at selling the bullshit that the rest of America buys. Perry's angling to be a VP or something in an administration. I just can't figure out what.

I also think that the vast majority of people are stupid, so I have to consider a possibility that whatever his Aggie Ambition is will happen.

Let's check out the morning headlines, shall we?

I love morning headlines. They help me determine what's gonna be stuck in my craw all morning. I bet when I'm an old man I'll be firing of strongly worded letters every day and calling up my elected officials and blabbing on to some poor intern about nonsensical arguments and conspiracy theories. Can. Not. Wait.

The Texas Education Agency has been getting it from me a little bit lately. I'm no policy wonk, I don't care about diving into deep discussion on dropout rates, curriculum planning, appointees qualifications or a long list of things.

But, I do care about a few things...I don't expect political agendas to creep into education policy. I expect the public school system to work, to educate our children and prepare them for college or for the work force. I expect teacher's to get a fair wage for the hard work they do in teaching some of these little ungrateful no-neck monsters.

Even through those things that I do care about, I rarely release a diatribe like this one from the Laredo Chameleon.

So, in the spirit of one of my guilty pleasure favorite songs...There are worse things I could do.
I could write about school vouchers and how I think they will ultimately destroy public education. I could go to meetings and chat up the officials and make them think I agree with them and then write a scathing rebuke of their policies. I could pretend that leaders should not be held accountable for making poor decisions.

But to cry in front of you...that's the worse thing I could do. (Now enjoy the great Stockard Channing)

Presidential candidate and white trash former governor, Mike Huckabee, advocated isolating AIDS patients from the rest of the population. He also thought that celebrities should pay for AIDS research.

That's very un-Republican of him if you break it down. But, it's very typical of ignorant back-woods Baptists.

Because those people are misusing corporate funds out the whazoo over there. The board's president, in a recent deposition, came off like an alzheimer's patient. He doesn't go to work, doesn't have an assistant, no calender, no computer and still pulled in $391,000 in 2006.

The co-op has faced pressure from state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and state Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs. Pressure to do what? Not be retarded?

And let me just say, if Patrick Rose is the one coming after you then you have really screwed up. That man is about as intimidating as Aunt Bea. Fraser on the other hand....I'm a little scared by that mustache.

I'm looking forward to many more stories on the Pedernales stroy, and then I hope for a made-for-tv-movie starring Mr. James Brolin as the out-of-touch electric co-op executive and boy-scout Tobey McGuire as State Rep. Patrick Rose. "Golly Gee you guys, you aren't disclosing financial documents to the public and that's just wrong!"