Ann Richards, 1933
Monday September 1, 2008
Birthday
Texas Governor Dorothy Ann Willis Richards (September 1, 1933 - September 13, 2006) first came to national attention as the Texas state treasurer, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as Governor of Texas and was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the Texas state treasurer, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as Governor of Texas from January 15, 1991, to January 17, 1995, and was defeated for re-election in 1994 by George W. Bush. Born during the start of the Depression in rural Texas, she died in Austin from esophageal cancer at the age of 73. Read More »
Happy 100th birthday to LBJ, 8-27-08
From the calendar at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Democrats/cal
Lyndon Johnson, 1908
Wednesday August 27, 2008
Birthday
Lyndon Baines Johnson
36th President of the United States
(November 22, 1963 to January 20, 1969)
Nickname: "LBJ"
Born: August 27, 1908, near Johnson City, Texas
Died: January 22, 1973, near Johnson City, Texas Read More »
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Democratic National Committee
DNC Press Office
Press Release
For Immediate Release
DEAN TO LEAD NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION EFFORT
Register for Change Bus Tour to Kick-off in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana This Week
Washington, DC - Governor Howard Dean will lead a national grassroots voter registration effort. The cross country bus tour, "Register for Change," will build on the overwhelming enthusiasm and voter turnout seen during the primaries as Democrats mobilize and organize voters for the fall election.
The tour kicks-off with events in Crawford and Austin, TX on Thursday, July 17th. Dean will also deliver the Opening Keynote Speech at Netroots Nation 2008 in Austin, TX. On Friday, July 18th and Saturday, July 19th the tour will continue with events in Hattiesburg, and Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. All listed times are local.
Read More »
By Bob Moser
This article appeared in the July 21, 2008 edition of The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080721/moser
"Did I mention that it's fun to be a Democrat in Texas?" asks Matt Glazer, editor in chief of the Burnt Orange Report, the state's leading progressive blog. He has, in fact, mentioned it a couple of times over beers at Scholz Garten, a legendary liberal hangout in Austin, and always with the same glimmer of happy bemusement behind his black-frame blogger specs. I'd been seeing that look in Democrats' eyes all over Texas in early June--at their raucous, record-breaking state convention, at local Democratic shindigs, in giddily overburdened Obama HQs. "It's like everyone who toiled on that Democratic death march for years, when it was so difficult, is now seeing daylight," says Josh Berthume of the Dallas suburb Denton, editor in chief of TheTexasBlue.com and another key player in a vigorous blogosphere that has helped ignite the startling Democratic flare-up here, in the bright red heart of Tom DeLay and Karl Rove's "permanent" Republican majority.
The very notion of Texas Democrats glimpsing daylight--of America's biggest chunk of Republican real estate being shaded pink on the '08 election map--seems almost absurd, a contradiction in terms, even to those who are making it happen. Like many of the nuevo pols, bloggers and progressive activists who are constructing a state-of-the-art Democratic machine in Texas, Glazer and Berthume are too young to remember the last time skies were blue for the party that ruled Texas politics from Reconstruction clear through to Reagan/Bush. So is Burnt Orange publisher Karl-Thomas Musselman, who's 23. "The last time Democrats won my hometown"--a small outpost in the central Hill Country--"was 1964," he says. "And that was only because President Johnson brought the chancellor of Germany to Fredericksburg for a visit."
Read More »
Update for SMU Petition Signers, 7-14-08
Monday, July 14, 2008
I am Andrew J. Weaver, organizer of the petition at http://www.protectSMU.org and an ordained United Methodist clergyman and research psychologist. I am a graduate of Southern Methodist University (SMU) and live in New York City. There are over 12,500 petition signers including thousands of SMU alumni who are deeply concerned about the future of the university. I am very grateful for your faithfulness regarding this issue.
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Breaking Story About Bush Complex and Bribery
July 13, 2008
London Times
Stephen Payne: a hotshot lobbyist who can get you into White House
A lobbyist offered access to Dick Cheney and other US leaders in return for a donation to the Bush library
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4322719.ece
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Our Educational Effort Began
In June an intensive educational effort began regarding the Bush project at SMU. It includes a website with interactive capability. You can find the website at http://www.whatwouldjwdo.net
Our goal is to persuade South Central Jurisdiction delegates to reject the SMU/Bush Foundation lease proposal when they meet in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, July 15-19. We are seeking to convince the "court of public opinion" through the media that the SMU-Bush linkage is injurious to both SMU and the United Methodist Church (UMC) that owns the university. Please keep this issue in your prayers over the next several days.
Growing the Petition
Finally, please continue to encourage your friends and colleagues to sign the petition. Each name is important. We need to tell officials of the UMC at every level that we find that a partisan institute honoring George W. Bush at SMU to be "utterly unacceptable."
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/protectsmu
With best regards,
Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D.
by Andrew J. Weaver, et. al.
June 19, 2008
http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=239
Summary
To obtain the George W. Bush presidential library, Southern Methodist University has been required to accept an autonomous partisan institute on campus. Karl Rove is in the middle of the planning of and fund-raising for this Trojan horse project. The institute will give Rove the resources he needs to try to re-write the narrative of the Bush presidency, as well promoting his larger vision -- the domination of the right-wing of the Republican Party in American politics. In July the United Methodist Church, which owns SMU "lock stock and barrel," has one last chance to stop Rove.
Register to vote, and send Voltage to play at the Democratic National Convention. We have songs that are perfect for the event already written, and I am already the number one democrat at the DNC.
What Would John Wesley Do?
United Methodists and the Bush Think Tank at SMU
An Urgent Appeal to Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience
http://www.whatwouldjwdo.net
The Web site you are viewing has been created to provide information critical for understanding the year-long controversy surrounding the proposed location of the George W. Bush Presidential Library complex on the campus of Southern Methodist University.
Of particular concern is the linkage of the complex – and, by extension, Southern Methodist University and The United Methodist Church – to a proposed institute (“think tank”) dedicated to promulgating the failed policies and ideology of the Bush Administration. http://www.whatwouldjwdo.net/library.php
The "anchor" for this site is an analytical letter written to delegates to the South Central Jurisdictional Conference by prominent United Methodist theologian, the Rev. Dr. Tex Sample. Dr. Sample is a retired clergy member of the Missouri Area of The United Methodist Church. A link to his letter appears elsewhere on this page. You are invited to respond to Dr. Sample’s letter and to enter into discussion with others about it.
http://www.whatwouldjwdo.net/blog
Of particular interest, too, is the extensive library of articles
http://www.whatwouldjwdo.net/library.php
that have been written about the Library complex and the proposed research institute. I also hope you will view the link to the "Protect SMU Petition" campaign; if you’ve not already done so, you are invited to join the 12,000 concerned people who have already signed the petition.
http://www.protectsmu.org
Posted on Jun 25 2008
Interview with William K. McElvaney
http://www.umnexus.org/?p=99
During its July 15-19 meeting in Dallas, TX, The South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church is expected to consider a petition referred by the 2008 General Conference. The petition, from United Methodist laywoman Diane Smock of Greenville, SC, (see UM NeXus Context, June 11) asks for rejection of a George W. Bush presidential complex, including a library, museum and partisan policy institute, on the campus of Southern Methodist University. A portion of SMU land proposed for the complex is owned by the jurisdiction.
In preparation for the jurisdictional meeting, UM NeXus interviewed representatives of SMU and of a grass-roots opposition campaign that has mounted a final education effort regarding the Bush complex. An informational web site will soon be available.
In this interview, the Rev. William K. McElvaney, one of the public spokesmen, responds to questions about the opposition’s educational campaign. A retired clergy member of the North Texas Annual Conference, Dr. McElvaney is LeVan Professor Emeritus of Preaching at UM-related Perkins School of Theology at SMU and past president of UM-related Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, MO. He recently celebrated his 50th anniversary in ordained ministry. Read SMU interview...
Read More »
by Vince Leibowitz
If you haven't yet had the opportunity to examine the Republican Party of Texas' new platform yet (and, if you haven't who can blame you - no one likes to induce projectile vomiting upon themselves), chances are you wouldn't be surprised that it is as radical and right-wing as ever. Here is a summary of the worst of it.
You are created in the image of God, period, and natural death must include executions, according to the Republicans:
We believe that human life is sacred, created in the image of God. Life begins at the moment of fertilization and ends at the point of natural death. All innocent human life must be protected.
So, if you don't believe in God, tough: you were created in his image anyway. Oh, and that "natural death" part? We assume the Texas GOP counts a lethal injection as a "natural death."
And, of course, it wouldn't be a GOP platform without gay-bashing within the first 1,000 words:
We believe that traditional marriage is a legal and moral commitment between a natural man and a natural woman. We recognize that the family is the foundational unit of a healthy society and consists of those related by blood, marriage, or adoption. The family is responsible for its own welfare, education, moral training, conduct, and property.
No surprise there.
Read More »
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You [may] have recently received a letter from [Laura Bush] along with a birthday card asking you to help the Republican National Committee celebrate President Bush's 62nd birthday on July 6. ...please take a moment to add your name to the RNC's e-card. https://secure.donationreport.com/donation.html
And if you can, please consider commemorating President Bush's 62nd birthday with a gift...
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Donate $62 to DNC and/or Obama on July 6
DNC
https://www.democrats.org/page/contribute
Obama
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/standard
"The main characteristic of this car is that no external input is needed. The car will continue to run as long as you have a bottle of water inside for you to add from time to time," said Kiyoshi Hirasawa, Chief Executive Officer of Genepax, after he proudly announced the company's invention.
Once water is poured into the water tank at the back of the car, the newly invented energy generator takes out the hydrogen from the water, releases electrons and finally generates electrical power.
"We highly recommend our system since it does not require you to build up an infrastructure to recharge your batteries, which is usually the case for most electric cars," said Hirasawa, who is hoping to advertise the car in time for the upcoming G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan.
Sat Jun 14, 5:26 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080614/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_fundraiser
WASHINGTON - Questions from the media prompted Republican John McCain to cancel a fundraiser at the home of a Texas oilman who once joked that women should give in while being raped.
The Texan, Republican Clayton "Claytie" Williams, made the joke during his failed 1990 campaign for governor against Democrat Ann Richards. Williams compared rape to the weather, saying, "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."
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complete copyrighted story at
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080614/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_fundraiser
Saturday, June 14, 2008; 9:30 AM
Democratic National Committee
DNC Press
Press Release
For Immediate Release
John McCain Should Return $300,000 Raised From Donor Notorious for Sexist Remark
Washington, DC -- Last night, ABC News reported that John McCain's campaign has canceled a fundraiser Senator McCain was scheduled to attend at the home of a controversial Texas Republican on Monday afternoon. According to the report, McCain's campaign canceled the event after it was presented with statements from former Republican gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams, who made inappropriate and insensitive jokes comparing rape to the weather during his failed 1990 campaign.
According to the report, the McCain campaign has refused to say whether it will return the $300,000 Williams has raised for McCain. Read More »