Reminder: this blog is now mainly historical - also check elsewhere.

The Easter Lemming Liberal News Digest is now a daily Facebook Page.

There are also non-political pages I publish if you look around.

TPA - Progressives looking around, looking forward, fighting voter apathy

The Texas Progressive Alliance continues to look forward as it brings you this week's roundup.

Off the Kuff looks at some pro- and anti-equality bills that were pre-filed for the 2015 Legislature.

Libby Shaw writing for Texas Kaos and for Daily Kos notes that although the Republican voter suppression efforts had its intended effect of keeping so many of us away from the polls, Texas Democrats share some of the blame for voter apathy. Voter Suppression did the Trick in Texas.

Evidence from around the country emerged in the wake of the 2014 election drubbing that change is going to have to come to the Democratic Party from both within and without. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs understood early on that if they cannot regain relevance in midterm elections, then we are all destined to ride the partisan see-saw every two years... and let gridlock reign.

Social Media has been great at blowing up narratives generated from republican think tanks and published in mainstream newspapers, magazines and TV Shows. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants to help: No, the new set of Republicans in Congress aren't less crazy and more pragmatic than Todd Akin or Sharron Angle.

From WCNews at Eye on Williamson. One more time on some post-election commentary, Williamson Democrats, Battleground Texas, And The Way Forward.

Neil at All People Have Value said that there is not very much to say. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

Texas Leftist offers an insider's view of Battleground Texas... What went right, what went wrong and how the organization moves forward from here. Square one?? Get to know Texas, and don't mess with what already works.

Easter Lemming, in one of his rare and even popular posts outside of Facebook, covers a Republican blogger who shows how the Republican victories of 2014 set them up for defeat in 2016. There is a Democratic state firewall that would be almost impossible for Republicans to breach to get the presidency and the only question is how many seats will the GOP lose in the Senate and House. Easter Lemming now mainly posts on his Easter Lemming News Facebook page.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Concerned Citizens scouts out the San Antonio Mayoral race.

Lone Star Q has a surprising report about Westboro Baptist's involvement in the recent Houston anti-gay protests.

Nonsequiteuse examines the cult of Mommy and the cult of the fetus.

Unfair Park wants to know why Ted Cruz wants to slow down their Netxflix streaming.

Texas Watch is hiring.

Juanita relates the worst Veterans' Day story ever.

Scott Braddock documents a teabagger slap fight in North Texas.

Fred Lewis sums up the evidence that wasn't presented at the San Jacinto waste pits trial.

Republican political analyst sees 2016 GOP loss ahead after 2014 campaigns

The Republican centrist blogger in Houston sees little chance for the Republican party in 2016. They have gone too extreme in attempts to be very appealing to Older Rural White Evangelical Male voters. There is a Democratic state firewall that would be almost impossible for Republicans to breach to get the presidency and the only question is how many seats will the GOP lose in the Senate and House.

https://www.facebook.com/EasterLemming/posts/546515912158742



One of my most popular posts recently.

The bases of the two parties

The Midterm election blues.

Electoral-vote.com is recommended for Senate races

Electoral-vote.com has a lot of experience in presidential elections and Senate race tracking. Highly recommended site.

Fortunately for Texas Democrats the Loudest Republican Voices are Extremists

Not the typical Texas Republican behavior, the more  moderate choice won two GOP races. 

Falkenberg: Was Tuesday a victory for inclusion? http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/columnists/falkenberg/article/Falkenberg-Was-Tuesday-a-victory-for-inclusion-5295690.php

Democrats have broad principles they stand for and tolerate a wide range of beliefs, so much so some call it the Disorganized Party. They prefer the Party of Inclusiveness. 

Sent from my iPhone

Texas Tribune lousy Internet poll meats reality, which mugs it and mugs for the cameras

Accuracy, not even close.

Here is the summary of the criticism of the poll and the Texas Tribune. With bonus comments about Plutocrats Broadcasting Service and the Nice Polite Republicans on the radio.  

Texas GOP now looks like Gohmert

Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

What a disaster for the Texas GOP and the nation as every Republican candidate moved to the right.

Should You Vote For Kinky?

Samantha

So- I wrote to Kinky Friedman's campaign. asked them WHY precisely i (or anyone) should vote for Kinky for Ag Commissioner - I wanted to share what I got back-


Hello Samantha,

These are all valid questions that one should ask. Please allow me to respond. Kinky never supported Rick Perry, and he never will. When asked by the Daily Beast to write a puff piece and say something positive about Perry, Kinky rather naively allowed that under certain circumstances he might could vote for the guy, all in good humor. To this day, Kinky will swear to you that he never gave Perry an endorsement, despite what is said on the net. Knowing how much he dislikes the soon-to-be-ex-governor, we over here know this to be the truth.

We would never want to dissuade you from voting your conscience, may it be Hogan or anybody, for that matter. However, we would ask that you take a closer look at Kinky's platform to see that hemp/pot is not his sole issue. Firstly, the legalization and cultivation of hemp is an environmental issue, a border issue, an education funding issue, a criminal justice issue and a personal freedoms issue. It is much more than a one-note recreational issue.

But it's not the only issue Kinky has taken on. He has a plan for water conservation that involves several points of attack. He sees a ten fold increase in water harvesting, development of El Paso-style groundwater desalination plants throughout the state, grants for individuals who return their lawns to indigenous ground cover, and, most importantly amending or eliminating the rule of capture in Texas and forming a state level water conservation board comprised of existing regional water authorities.

He has a plan for issuing grants for more family farms, focusing on organic farming, with the intent of using these locally grown organic foods for school lunch programs, which he intends to expand.

He will also issue increasing numbers of department grants for wind farms throughout west Texas.

He even has a strategy for feral hogs, the bane of so many farmers.

Still it does come back to hemp, which we see as the next great Texas cash crop, one that can totally replace cotton, which uses more water, produces less fiber and requires 25% of the world's pesticides (remember: hemp uses none). Right now, in drought conditions, this is to what most farmers and ranchers are responding. They want the opportunity.

Thanks for you time. Persuaded even a little bit?

Most sincerely,

Cleve
TexasForKinky.com

Your alternative is to vote for an insurance salesman who does not campaign except for inside his home and attributes his coming in first in the Democratic Primary to God.

Democratic Mystery Man.

I talked to Hogan today, and he attributes his victory to the Almighty.

“It was a miracle and only God could’ve pulled it off,” he told me. “That doesn’t sell papers and you may think that’s corny but I truly believe it.”

I can understand why God wouldn’t want the atheistic Kinky Friedman representing God’s Party but what about Fitzsimons, who actually campaigned?

Hogan scoffs at the idea that “the Establishment” has anything to teach him.

“When I called Democrats and told them I was gonna be on the ticket first thing they said was, ‘How long you been in politics?’ I said, ‘I’m not no politician.’ They said, ‘Let me tell you something: It takes a lot of money to win a state race and you can’t win.’ I said, ‘Let me tell you something, y’all haven’t won since 1994.’”

And that’s true enough. Democrats have lost every single one of the last 100 or so statewide races since 1994. Hogan thought he’d try something a little different: He wouldn’t really campaign.

“Basically I run on the internet and a phone,” he said. “My motto is: My phone and Internet can outrun any jet plane or car across the state of Texas. I don’t have to be there.”

But how did voters know about him at all? Details about his candidacy only appear in a handful of small-town papers.

“All you gotta do is Google my name—’jim hogan ag commissioner’—and there’s enough on there.”

Hogan says he signed up for the Democratic ticket only because the field was weaker than the Republican slate, which featured five candidates.

“I can’t whup all five of ‘em but I might whup one of ‘em,” he said. “Sign me up!”

To be fair, Hogan has more experience than Kinky Friedman with farm and ranch affairs. He says he’s been involved in agriculture from childhood and ran a dairy farm from 1973 to 2005. Now in the insurance business, Hogan can speak at length about the economics of irrigated agriculture and the functions of the Texas Department of Agriculture. Still, he doesn’t have much of a platform.