Our New Flag ?

Political Cartoon is by Mike Keefe in The Denver Post.

Is This Worth Getting Upset Over ?

According to the Dallas Morning News, this is the latest picture to upset some people (featured in the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego). It was painted by Texas artist Glen Tarnowski. Some people really need to just get a life and chill.

Kinky For Governor !

The good news came today! Kinky Friedman is not officially in the governor's race yet, but it looks like he will be. He is forming an exploratory committee to raise funds to enter the Democratic primary. Even better, one of my favorite Texas populist politicians is already on board. Former Agriculture Commissioner and radio personality Jim Hightower will be helping out with Kinky's campaign. And rumor has it that some other good progressives in the Democratic party may soon declare their support!

Now if you're happy with the ruling corporatocracy in Texas, you won't be happy with Kinky. You would probably want to support Tom Schieffer (who supported George Bush in 2000 and 2004). But frankly he smells like the same old Republican corporate lackeys that have been running Texas for far too long.

I'm ready for some change in Texas. I'm ready for state government to be shook up. I'm ready for a governor that will think of ordinary citizens first -- not the corporate fatcats. That's why I am supporting Kinky Friedman for governor in next year's Democratic primary. In fact, my first campaign donation was mailed this morning. If you want to shake up Texas politics, I urge you to do the same. Contributions can be sent to:

Texans for Kinky
PO Box 92153
Austin, Texas 78709
or click on http://www.texansforkinky.com/

Here is the message Kinky sent out yesterday:

Dear Fellow Texans:

Here's the way I see it: Democrats + Independents = Victory

I was serious when I ran for governor in 2006 and I'm serious now. I'm a humorist, but I know these are not humorous times for a lot of us. Part of the reason is the pathetic lack of leadership at the state level. The last governor, I believe, who was truly on the side of the people of Texas, was Ann Richards. She was a very funny lady - she was also a great governor. I'll take my cues from Ann Richards.

I also draw inspiration from Ann Richards' mentor, Barbara Jordan. Barbara believed that if one is attacked personally, one should never counterattack personally. During the 2006 campaign, I was attacked personally. However, like Barbara Jordan, I have no desire to attack anyone personally. Instead, like Barbara, I will merely relegate them to my "forgive and remember list."

But I do not wish to fight yesterday's campaign again. Today, I have taken the first step toward running for Governor in 2010 by forming "Texans for Kinky," a committee to help with research and raising the funds neccessary to launch a successful campaign. Now is the time to win. I'm running in the Democratic Primary because my heroes have always been Democrats: Sam Houston, Sam Rayburn, Henry B. Gonzales, Ralph Yarborough, Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, Liz Carpenter, Jim Hightower and Molly Ivins. Their spirit is part of the reason the Democratic Party is transforming itself into a more progressive, populist mode - like the Democratic Party that dominated the past century. It is a party that, at its best, always stood up for the people against the special interests and big corporations. The men and women I have mentioned as my heroes have done just that. And we can do it, too.

It's time to end corporate handouts, get rid of the death penalty, get rid of the TAKS test, and get rid of the Republican stranglehold on this state. Jim Hightower told me he believes the main reason we've lost every statewide race since Ann Richards is the inability of our candidates to excite the grassroots. Jim is talking about rural folks, working people, independents, libertarians, and even disgruntled Republicans (many of whom used to be Democrats and should be on our side).

I intend to run a serious campaign, one that grows the party. I intend to visit and listen to the voices of neglected communities, small towns, suburbs, and rural areas, often where Democrats have lately feared to tread. This, I feel, is the very definition of being a Democrat. I intend to play by the rules. I will endorse and campaign for whomever wins the Democratic Primary.

Will the independents support me and vote as Democrats? I think they will. I think many Texans appreciate and respect anyone who gets knocked down and gets back up to fight again. Will Democrats take me seriously? I think they will. When Barbara Jordan, who may well be Texas' only modern-day statesman, was a young girl, she was never very serious in school. The teachers reported to her father (Ben Jordan, a very strict part-time preacher) that though she was the smartest kid in the class, she was a perpetual cut-up, a troublemaker and a class clown. When Ben had finally had enough of Barbara's antics, instead of reprimanding her with his customary fire and brimstone iron-hand style, he tried a different approach. "Barbara," he said, "I'll stick with you just as far as you want to go." That turned her around, and the rest is truly history.

So I say to Democrats who may not yet take me seriously, I'll stick with you just as far as you want to go. If we stick together, we'll go very far indeed. All the way to the Governor's Mansion!

God Bless Texas,

Kinky Friedman

PS: Please show me you're serious about Texas' future too by making a campaign contribution to Texans for Kinky.

Some Good Advice

Political Cartoon is by R.J. Matson in The New York Observer.

It's Repub Teabagging Day !

Well, today is the day. The day right-wingers across the nation are supposed to get together and do some teabagging (what an ugly vision that brings to mind).

It is supposed to be a nationwide demonstration against the high taxation of the current administration. I heard one woman on TV yesterday saying it would be a grassroots gathering of all citizens, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, just like happened on the day after 9/11. That's ridiculous!

There will be no Democrats there and I doubt there will be many, if any, Independents. That's because both of these groups know that the tax rate for 95% of Americans -- the tax rate just put into effect by President Obama -- is lower than under any Republican president since World War II. The only people who will have a slightly higher tax rate are the rich (and even they will be paying a smaller rate than when Ronald Reagan was in office).

The truth is that this is nothing like a grassroots movement. Grassroots movements start at the bottom with the common man. This started with rich jerks like Dick Armey and Glen Beck and is financed by their rich friends. And it has been pushed by the Fox Network, that is dedicated to preserving the current corporatocracy. The rich, through Fox News, have lied to the people who are participating because they want their own taxes lowered. It has nothing to do with the common man.

I think the Rude Pundit may have put it best, when he said, " Somewhere, Karl Marx is laughing his bearded ass off. Because what is this but classic exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie? It's a bunch of rich fucks, beginning with that tool Rick Santelli on CNBC and ending with the slavering profitmongers at Fox 'news,' making the poor idiots, who are desperate from fear of or actual job loss and heath insurance loss and home loss, do their bidding. Look at the people attending. Bedraggled Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin wannabes, clinging to the image of those who create the illusion of the working class without the work or the class. Ignorance is such bliss, man.

This movement's gonna die a horribly gruesome death. It really is just the last hideous gasps of a kind of right wing populism that's got nothing to do with actual populism and everything to do with a desperate scrabbling to preserve the status quo for the wealthy."

The whole thing is really just sort of sad. These pathetic people don't even realize they're being used by the very people they should be angry with -- Wall Street, the giant banks and the corporations.

Tea Party

Political Cartoon is by Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Right-Wing Reaction

From the website Seeds of Doubt.

Court Declares Franken The Winner

Yesterday, a three-judge panel in Minnesota declared Al Franken the winner in that state's U.S. Senate race. In a normal race that would be the end of it and Franken would be allowed to assume his senate seat, but this is anything but a normal situation.

In the three-way race last November, Coleman originally came out ahead by a few votes. But the margin was less than 1/2 of 1%, and a state law triggered an automatic recount. After the recount, Franken has taken a 225 vote lead. Coleman appealed the outcome to a three-judge panel, in the hopes of getting some disqualified absentee ballots counted and overturning the outcome. The court did allow another 400 absentee ballots to be counted, but that just increased Franken's lead to 312 votes.

That should be the end of it, but Coleman is now saying he is going to appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Republican governor says he won't issue an election certificate until all court actions are completed. That could be a long time, since even if the Minnesota Supreme Court rules against him, Coleman could start working his way up the federal courts.

There is no chance of Franken's victory being overturned. To do so, there would have to be proof of some kind of election malfeasance, and that is unlikely considering the verdict of the three-judge panel. They wrote, "The overwhelming weight of the evidence indicates that the November 4, 2008, election was conducted fairly, impartially and accurately. There is no evidence of a systematic problem of disenfranchisement in the state's election system, including in its absentee-balloting procedures."

There is simply no proof of election malfeasance and Coleman knows it. He knows he has lost the election, but this is no longer about who won the election. Coleman is now just carrying water for the national party.

If Franken is seated in the Senate, that brings the Democrats very close to the 60 votes they need to keep the minority Republicans from filibustering or blocking Democratic or White House bills. The longer the Republicans can keep Franken from being seated, the better there chances are of obstructing senate actions.

The Republicans may be in the minority now, but that obviously hasn't stopped their dirty tricks and underhanded politics.

Learning About The Second Amendment

Political Cartoon is by John Cole in The Scranton Times.

TxDOT Apologizes To Senator

Wendy Davis won her seat in the Texas Legislature last November, and is currently serving her first term. A couple of weeks ago, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) finally got around to putting up signs directing the public to her office on West Seventh in Fort Worth. The signs directed citizens to the office of State Rep. Wendy Davis.

The signs looked good, but Ms. Davis is not a state representative -- she's a senator. Yesterday, TxDOT finally got the signs corrected. A spokeswoman from TxDOT apologized to Ms. Davis for the error, and said, "It was purely an accident. We are aware she’s a senator, and we appreciate her service."

Fortunately for TxDOT, Senator Davis has a sense of humor. She said she's just glad she doesn't have two jobs in the legislature. She told Politex blog, "I’ve got my agenda full enough on the Senate side."

Apologizing For Bush's Incompetence

Political Cartoon is by Bob Englehart in The Hartford Courant.

Circular Reasoning

Taken from the excellent website Atheist Comics.

U.S. Guns Feeding Violence In Mexico

Recently, violence between the various drug cartels and between the cartels and the police, has been getting out of hand in Mexico. In just the last year, over 6,000 people have died in this increasing violence.

Sadly, the violence is being fueled by the United States in two ways. It is being financed by the huge flow of American drug dollars into Mexico, and it is being armed by the flow of American guns into Mexico.

This is especially true of the large number of assault rifles acquired by the cartels, the huge majority of which come from the United States. This has given the drug cartels a firepower the Mexican police cannot match, and has resulted in the Mexican Army entering the fray. Even so, the violence is now threatening to cross the border into the United States.

On Face The Nation (CBS TV), the Mexican Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan pled with the United States government to stop the shipment of assault weapons to the cartels. He said, "There is a direct correlation between the expiration of the assault weapons ban and our seizures of assault weapons. We cannot determine how Congress and the administration will move on this. What we will say is that... reinstating the ban... could have a profound impact on the number and the calibre of the weapons going down to Mexico."

The ambassador is right. The ban on assault weapons needs to be reinstated -- the sooner the better. While Americans do have a constitutional right to own firearms, that is not an unlimited right (for instance, tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns are prohibited). Assault weapons should also be prohibited. They are simply too dangerous to be allowed on the streets -- in this country or in Mexico.

George Bush was a damn fool to remove the assault weapon ban. It worked well in the past and should be re-instituted as soon as possible.

A Little Help Amigo ?

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.