Settings
About Us
Categories
Search
Archives
Links
Miscellany
It’s been probably a decade since I voluntarily gave an honest answer when asked for my race. I will be listing my race as “American” for the Census, and I wholeheartedly encourage everyone else to do so as well. We can’t make the racial bean counters stop their counting, but we can deprive them of beans.
Apollo posted this at 9:52 PM EST on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 as Amer-I-Can!, Race
Three cheers for the residents of Texas’s State Board of Education, District 9 for tossing Creationist and Christian Revisionist Don McLeroy out of office in Tuesday’s primary (the man who beat him, a moderate on these issues, faces no opposition in the general election).
Due to its size — and the way California’s persnickety standards and budget woes have removed it from the process — Texas’s standards are extremely influential nationwide. Getting a confirmed crazy loon like McLeroy off the board is an important victory.
Tom posted this at 9:39 AM EST on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 as Deep in the Heart of Texas, Politics, Science & Evolution
One of the amazing things about Texas is how diverse the place is. I don’t mean diverse in the trite racial sense, but in terms of real differences in peoples and cultures. The Hispanics of El Paso bear little resemblence to the Hispanics of the Rio Grande Valley.
How distinct is the Rio Grande Valley from the rest of the state? In Michael Barone’s write up of Texas’s Republican primary yesterday, he says: “I didn’t separate out the heavily Hispanic counties along the Rio Grande Valley, because they cast relatively few (in some cases zero) votes in the Republican primary.”
I knew it was heavily Democratic down there, but zero Republicans? Sure enough: Zapata County, with 7,153 registered voters: 3,194 votes in the Democrat primary, 0 votes in the Republican primary.
Zapata County is 85% Hispanic. Let’s compare that to El Paso County, which is almost as Hispanic at 78%. In El Paso, there were 34,237 Democratic primary voters, and 15,372 Republican primary voters. That’s still more than twice as many Democrats, but those numbers just reflect a county with lopsided partisan numbers, not, like in the Valley, where one party – the majority party for the state at large – basically doesn’t exist (Hidalgo: 7 times more Democrats than Republicans; Willacy: 27 times more Democrats than Republicans)
Update: The Starr County returns are now online. 28,421 registered voters. 4,355 Democratic primary voters, 31 Republicans.
Apollo posted this at 12:10 PM EST on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 as Deep in the Heart of Texas
Alexander Hamilton:*
I am affectionately attached to the republican theory. This is the real language of my heart. In candor, [however,] I ought also to add that…I consider its success as yet a problem.
Thomas Jefferson:**
I have so much confidence in the good sense of man, and his qualification for self government…where reason is left free…that I will agree to be stoned as a false prophet if all does not end well in this country.
Discuss.
* Brookhiser, Richard. Alexander Hamilton: American. The Free Press, 1999. p 108
** Weisberger, Bernard A. America Afire. William Morrow, 2000., p 129
Tom posted this at 12:02 AM EST on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 as Amer-I-Can!, The Right Words
I mean that un-ironically:
“I have two reactions to the election in Massachusetts. One, I am disappointed. Two, I feel strongly that the Democratic majority in Congress must respect the process and make no effort to bypass the electoral results. If Martha Coakley had won, I believe we could have worked out a reasonable compromise between the House and Senate health care bills. But since Scott Brown has won and the Republicans now have 41 votes in the Senate, that approach is no longer appropriate.
I am hopeful that some Republican Senators will be willing to discuss a revised version of health care reform because I do not think that the country would be well-served by the health care status quo. But our respect for democratic procedures must rule out any effort to pass a health care bill as if the Massachusetts election had not happened. Going forward, I hope there will be a serious effort to change the Senate rule which means that 59 votes are not enough to pass major legislation, but those are the rules by which the health care bill was considered, and it would be wrong to change them in the middle of the process.”
That’s very good news indeed.
H/T: Althouse
Tom posted this at 9:46 AM EST on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 as CHANGE!, The Democratic Congress, Wicked Crazy Massachusetts
Our toast: “To the Constitution of the United States: fear and consternation to its enemies; courage and wisdom to its friends; and DOWN WITH OBAMACARE!”
If you had told me a year ago that on the 365th day of the Obama presidency, a Republican would win Ted Kennedy’s seat in a campaign hinging on Obama’s signature issue, I would have told you that your storyline was not believable.
Wow. Wow wow wow. Three cheers for the voters of Massachusetts!
Apollo posted this at 9:39 PM EST on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 as Amer-I-Can!, CHANGE!, Wicked Crazy Massachusetts
Unsatisfied with changing the rules regarding US Senate vacancies — for the second time in five years — Massachusetts democrats have a new plan to protect their complete dominion over us proles their constituents’ interest.
Friday, a spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, who is overseeing the election but did not respond to a call seeking comment, said certification of the Jan. 19 election by the Governor’s Council would take a while.
“Because it’s a federal election,” spokesman Brian McNiff said. “We’d have to wait 10 days for absentee and military ballots to come in.”
Another source told the Herald that Galvin’s office has said the election won’t be certified until Feb. 20 – well after the president’s address.
Since the U.S. Senate doesn’t meet again in formal session until Jan. 20, Bay State voters will have made their decision before a vote on health-care reform could be held. But Kirk and Galvin’s office said Friday a victorious Brown would be left in limbo.
In contrast, Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was sworn in at the U.S. House of Representatives on Oct. 18, 2007, just two days after winning a special election to replace Martin Meehan. In that case, Tsongas made it to Capitol Hill in time to override a presidential veto of the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Delightful, no?
Tom posted this at 10:48 AM EST on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 as CHANGE!, Politics, The Democratic Congress, Wicked Crazy Massachusetts
Jonah posts an email that raises one of my favorite subjects that never gets raised. I posted a few years ago that for all the Democrats may bitch about Republicans gaining an advantage in the senate and electoral college from the disproportionate power of small states, the Democrats get at least their fair share. Now I’ve got an excuse to count things again!
Back then, in the 109th Congress (2005-07), for both the ten most populous states and the ten least populous states, there were 11 Democrat senators and 9 Republicans, with Republicans getting their large majority from the 30 states in the middle.
Now for the 111th Congress, which has 60 Democrat senators and 40 Republicans, I’ll review the ten most and ten least populous states. The ten least populous:
That’s 15Ds, 5Rs. That’s a somewhat higher proportion (75%) than the overall number of Democrats in the Senate (60%). How about the ten most populous states?
That’s 13Ds, 7Rs, a somewhat more Republican ratio (35%) than in the ten least populous states, but still more Democratic than the Senate at large (Note: In 2006, New Jersey was the 10th most populous state, and it had and has 2Ds; North Carolina has moved up).
As I did for the 109th Congress, I’ll break down states into groups of ten and list their partisan representation in the Senate:
So, as in the 109th Congress, the Republicans do better in states 21-40. But what’s interesting this time is that the most lopsided group is the Democrats’ control of senate seats from the ten least populous states. I said this in 2006, and I’ll say it in 2009, and I’ll almost certainly say it for any future years I compile such numbers: “Remarkably enough, senate apportionment seems to most benefit the party that wins elections.”
While I’m doing numbers, I’ll also break down the 2008 presidential election as I did the 2004 presidential election, showing how many states from each group were won by each party. Overall, Obama carried 28 out of 50 states (56%):
So McCain won a majority of the 30 smallest states. But considering that he only got 32% of the electoral vote, it’s hard to say that Republicans really benefited from their wins in the small states. Obama carried a huge electoral majority because he won 15 of the 20 largest states. That is as it should be. The Constitution works again: he who wins the votes of the American people wins the votes of the American people. Hallelujah, amen.
Apollo posted this at 4:16 AM EST on Friday, January 15th, 2010 as Amer-I-Can!, Journalism, Politics
Here’s video evidence that Obama is dead. Coakley could have gotten a more vigorous endorsement from Teddy himself.
George Bush was in his final year or two, dealing with an opposition Congress, before he looked anywhere near this tired. For all the press accolades that Obama has gotten for being in shape and playing lots of basketball, he looks like hell these days. Considering that he’s the only thing separating Joe Biden from real power, I hope he starts taking better care of himself.
Apollo posted this at 11:29 PM EST on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 as Barack Obama Couldn't Persuade a Bear to Crap in the Woods, Wicked Crazy Massachusetts
Union guys (note the purple SEIU vests) knock over a reporter trying to get a picture of Martha Coakley, candidate for the open Massachusetts Senate seat
The boys at Hillbuzz have a great deal of fun making Despair.com style posters about the incident.
Hubbard posted this at 10:15 PM EST on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 as Wicked Crazy Massachusetts
I learn from Reuters:
Electricity usage in Texas rose Friday as arctic air covered most of the state, hitting another winter power record after setting one just the night before, according to initial data from the state grid operator.
I’ve never been to the arctic, but I was in Austin last night, and I think it got down to around 20 degrees. That’s definitely the coldest it’s been since I’ve been here, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it’s not really “arctic” around here.
Yes, perhaps this air was once over the arctic (the planet’s only so big – the air I’m breathing has probably been in most areas). But before it got here it warmed up considerably at the expense of other locations. At most it should be said that we have “Dakota air” covering the state, or “Montana air.” Texans don’t need Reuters’s help in exaggerating how cold it is here.
Apollo posted this at 1:20 PM EST on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 as Deep in the Heart of Texas, Journalism
For five years I lived in greater Los Angeles. I regarded driving on the freeways as something between a chore and hell on earth, depending on the time of day. Not so coincidentally, I’ve recently realized, I drove cars that were not particularly fun.
This week I’m visiting my in-laws in one of the L.A. burbs, and I brought with me a rather fun car. Frankly, I’m blown away by how fantastic it is to drive here. So long as there’s no traffic, every time you get on the freeway the left two lanes are like entering a race. The speed limit in the carpool lane is “as fast as the guy in front of you,” and if there’s speed enforcement in the other lanes, it’s pretty sporadic. The drivers, reputation aside, are at least as skilled and attentive as anywhere I’ve driven. And no matter how fast you go, someone will pass you. I originally thought that there was a de facto speed limit, imposed by the dilapidated state of the roads, of 85, but a rather exhilarating drive to the airport tonight suggests that that’s wrong. The faster you drive, the more bumps you skim over.
I’m not sure that driving this way on a daily basis would be good for my health, my fuel mileage, or my insurance premium, and it might get old after a while (though probably not). Objectively, there’s enough traffic to more than compensate for the occasional bursts of speed (on the way back from the airport, twice I was going so slow that my Garmin asked if I wanted to enter “Pedestrian Mode”).
But as a once-a-year visitor who can pick the hours he drives – wowee this is fun!
Apollo posted this at 3:33 AM EST on Friday, January 1st, 2010 as Amer-I-Can!, Ourselves
I don’t normally inflict my legal interests on readers here, but while doing some research recently I came across an unusually action-packed case that I thought was worth sharing.
It involves a guy and his buddy stealing a bag of clothes irons (!?!?) from a JC Penny in El Paso. There’s a seven-person brawl on the side of a freeway off-ramp involving some extremely dedicated store security personnel (”Appellant rose from the pavement, and he stomped on Carreno’s testicles-causing Carreno considerable pain . . . Both loss prevention officers denied kicking Appellant in the face or head during the confrontation, but they acknowledged that Appellant may have sustained injuries.”). There’s gang threats, a random appearance by the Border Patrol, and some “enormously high” levels of methamphetamine.
And then the guy who stole the irons testifies, and he tells a radically different but equally riveting story (”Appellant stated that Hernandez punched him [in] the stomach, and he vomited on the floor. He was then told to mop the floor with his pants.”)
The full facts of the case are below the jump. Legal pervs can read the full case here, but I don’t think, aside from the facts, that there’s anything interesting about the case.
Apollo posted this at 8:47 PM EST on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 as Deep in the Heart of Texas
Watch Bob Dylan.
I’m mot quite sure what to think of this—perhaps because I was laughing too hard.
Hubbard posted this at 9:08 PM EST on Friday, December 4th, 2009 as Amer-I-Can!
Bad news: Our government thinks it has created 30 jobs in Texas’s 91st Congressional District.
Possible Good News: Does this mean Texas gets [at least] 93 electoral votes? That’s change I can believe in.
Apollo posted this at 12:33 AM EST on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 as CHANGE!, Deep in the Heart of Texas