Taking Back Texas Episode 5

On The Difficulty Of Writing, Or, The War Hits Home by: fake consultant I do not want to write this story, and I have been stuck for about ten days because I do not want to face the reality of this particular situation. But here it is. Last Friday was the day The Girlfriend and I had to travel to Fort Lewis, Washington, to attend the military departure ceremony for one of our two godsons. He enlisted in the Army National Guard, and now it’s time to go to the Middle East. There was no mystery or great surprise that he would be going, and the news is not all bad. He is not in a Stryker Brigade; thank whichever deity you support, nor a military policeman. It is theoretically possible that the support role he will be filling will actually be moderately safe, which is about the best spin I can offer considering the circumstances. He and his brother are our two godsons, and we have literally been looking out for them since the days of their birth. To illustrate the point more clearly, I was his birth photographer. The Girlfriend and I attended Lamaze-twice-to allow us access to both deliveries, but circumstances caused us to miss his older brother’s birth by eight hours. We have been the “bad” godparents ever since-the ones who introduced them to Beavis and Butt-Head, and Ren and Stimpy, and Skittles and Jolt Cola and Archie McPhee. It isn’t as though I didn’t try to nip this in the bud. I suggested the Air Force (a subject I can speak about from personal experience), but I was clearly not as persuasive as I could have been. Which is how we found ourselves at Fort Lewis. The families assembled in a hangar on base, a small band offered up patriotic music, important officers offered up inspiring words, and an award was presented to the officer who managed the required paperwork that made the deployment possible. Finally, with a clanging of warning bells, the hangar doors were opened to reveal the soldiers we were there to honor, standing in formation. Nobody reacts to the officer who says: “This is the last time I will have the chance to address all of you...” Everyone wants to look brave, soldier and family alike; but there is no way to sit in a room with small child noises filling the space, and not know the future will likely be so, so tough for some of those little children. Goodbye Cindy Sheehan by: lightseeker In what she described as a ''resignation letter,'' Sheehan wrote in her online diary on the ''Daily Kos'' blog: ''Good-bye America ... you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can't make you be that country unless you want it. ''It's up to you now.'' [snip] ''I have endured a lot of smear and hatred since Casey was killed and especially since I became the so-called ''Face'' of the American anti-war movement,'' Sheehan wrote in the diary. How Courage is involved by: Stewart True Courage In all the *fuhrer* over the House Speaker's machinations this weekend, it may seem a trifle pollyanish to bring up my own organization's recent action to bestow awards on legislators. But there really is a relationship here. In case you missed it, the True Courage Action Network recently ran a poll and asked everyone who follows the Lege which senator, rep, and advocate demonstrated the greatest courage defending Texas from the kleptocrats who are fighting right now to hold on to power. The poll winners are: Best State Senator: Rodney Ellis Best State Representative: Mike Villarreal Best State Advocate: ACLU of Texas (represented by Will Harrell, Sonia Santana, and Kat Dean) In addition, TCAN's own members chose to honor: Sen. Mario Gallegos for: Defending Voting Rights in the Senate Rep. Rafael Anchía for: Defending Voting Rights in the House Sen. Royce West for: Promoting Ethics Reform Rep. Jim Dunnam for: Delivering a Passionate Floor Speech and Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice for: Delivering a Daring Testimony. All these individuals and organizations have the guts (well, we prefer the term "Courage") to stand on principle regarding ethics issues -- often against their own political best interests. Contrast that with the current jockeying for power in the House by people who get away with saying anything to get elected because our electorate is so ill-informed. When accepting our awards, these winners insisted that they weren't heroes, that other people contributed more, that they were just doing what they thought they had to do. They were also eager to point out that having a network of friends in the activist community had been essential for them to pass legislation that's good for Texas and Texans. Iscariot Caucus Still Full of S**t by: boadicea Capitol Annex has the rundown: Democrats for Reform, is, of course, the group of Craddick-allied Democrats who put out a "reform" agenda earlier this year. The reality of their agenda, however, is that it didn't amount to much and that this group actually circumvented some other good reforms. Restore full funding of CHIP- HB 109 does not fully restore CHIP to pre-2003 levels Reform Medicaid eligibility- vague, unclear - cannot point to anything definitive Restore the TEXAS Grants scholarship fund- 7,000 fewer students will receive TEXAS Grants than in 2003 Repeal tuition deregulation- HB 2382 by Coleman (definitely NOT an Iscariot) was the sole piece of legislation this session repealing tuition deregulation