Van Taylor’s Campaign Getting Boost From GOP ‘Netroots’

This should no doubt encourage you to support Chet Edwards and also help him out in Barbara Boxer’s poll, via the Waco Tribune-Herald:

An Internet fundraising effort by the popular Republican-leaning Web site RedState.com steered 183 contributions and $10,000 to Taylor from readers like Sierra across the country this week.

Taylor welcomed the help. He trailed incumbent U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, by a large margin in fundraising reports filed shortly after Taylor’s expensive Republican primary victory March 7 and is trying to recharge for the general election in November.

“I’m not an incumbent; I can’t go to Washington and raise huge amounts of (political action committee) money. It is going to require grass-roots activists here in Central Texas and, honestly, around the country to contribute,” said Taylor, 33.

Edwards posted about $1.3 million and Taylor reported about $200,000 in filings with the Federal Election Commission as of March 31.

Interesting food for thought.


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If You’re Viewing This Site In IE & It Works…

…thank Eric from MindSpeak: Progressive Politics With a Twist. Eric kindly tweaked my templates so they look OK in IE and other browsers (I’m pretty ignorant of both how the site looked in other browsers, as I use Firefox, and of how to make it look right in other browsers), even fixing the color of my Google ads.

So, BIG, BIG, BIG, BIG thanks to Eric for helping me out with that. You Da Man, Eric.

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A Few New Blogs To Mention

In addition to the launch of TexasKOS this week, I’ve become aware of a few other blogs which I thought may be of interest to Annex readers.

First of, via a note in the comments, check out Ramblings of an HHSC Employee Amidst Chaos, which is exactly what it sounds like. The top post up right now examines this Chron article and points out problems HHSC clients are having with the system.

Also, a new blog worth a mention is Penny Barrett Hornsby’s Musings of a Liberal Texan. Not necessarily a lot of Texas-centric plus but some entertaining and interesting “musings.”

Next, we Samm Almaguer, the “diary of a disposable” state employee, which includes this post on the state employee’s assocation’s endorsement of Carole Keeton Strayhorn.

In addition, the interesting Armadillo Podcast, which reports its reason for existing as:  “Weekly podcast interviews of Austinites famous and infamous, known and unknown, with the sole intent to convince my good friend Galia, an Israeli woman living way out in California, to move and live with us here in Austin, Texas, the land of the weird and the home of the armadillo.”

Another group of Texas Democrats, this time from Spring near Houston, is also on the web with Spring Democrats.

Another local blog is Ellis County Observer. You’ve got to pick through this one a bit, but there is some good inside information about who in the Ellis County GOP is working for Kinky Friedman, not to mention other Ellis County political stuff.
From Houston, we haveexistentialistcowboy The Existentialist Cowboy, who seems to cover a lot of national issues.

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From The Blogs: Sunday, May 1, 2006

Here’s your From The Blogs for Sunday, May 1, 2006.

Other Roundups:Today’s Papers (Slate).

Texas Blogs

Rep. Aaron Pena’s A Capitol Blog tells us the Texas Legislature is one step closer to a school funding fix.

Bay Area Houston Blog gives us an education on education funding.

BlogHOUSTON tells us that Houston Community Newspapers has acquired the Examiner Newspaper Group.

Blue Texas tells us “why the Hell not” to vote for Kinky Friedman.

Dallas Blog tells us about more political dirty triks being done at Wikipedia, the Free Encycolpedia.

Dos Centavos has more on Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s arrest at Friday’s Darfur protest, including another new photo.

Eye on Williamson County has the latest news on an upcoming fund-raiser for Karen Felthauser.

Musings talks about fixing CHIPs.

North Texas Liberal tells us some stories from the DNC canvass yesterday.

Panhandle Truth Squad tells us about a unique protest encouraging people to say “no” to war…unless a Democrat is president.

Pink Dome tells us about a new mailer by Texans for No New Taxes against the Perry/Sharp/TTRC Plan, which happened to show up shoved under doors to offices in the capitol.

Right of Texas tells us how Van Taylor’s campaign is responding to Chet Edwards’ call that Taylor disclose fully his stock ownership in ExxonMobile.

Rhymes with Right has an update on Tom DeLay and the goings on in CD-22. Also, Texas Safety Forum has some excellent new CD-22 tidbits out of Brazoria and Harris Counties: The Precinct Chair War is On!
South Texas Chisme has more on the shoddy administration of CHIPs.

Stop Kinky has a post up on Friedman’s latest “anti-immigration nonsense.”
National
American Pundit tells us about the 3,501 illegal wiretaps on American citizens authorized by President Bush.

Carpetbagger Report tells us about Mexico’s drug decriminilization policy.

Democratic Daily tells us why George W. Bush was unhappy at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. Also: Texas-based The Agonist has some great commentary on this.
The DNC Blog tells us what a success the 50-state canvass was yesterday.

Liberal Oasis tells us that the 2008 GOP field ‘takes a hit.’
Memeorandum tells us that as gas prices go up, the impact trickles down.

Mystery Pollster asks about an “immigration enforcement” third party.

The Blue State tells us about another Dubai deal.

Vote Law tells us about a federal court voiding parts of a Rhode Island campaign finance law.

Oval Office 2008 says not to rule out former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel as a presidential contender, or so says a former New Hampshire Senator.

Real Clar Politics tells us about a presidential hopeful with a radical health policy.

The DCCC Blog, Stakeholder, tells us about the Republican clown show on gas prices.

Texas-based Supreme Irony of Life has more on George Bush’s America.

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Saturday Blog Fun House

Enough politics for the week! I’m heading out for most of the day, so here are a few fun links to keep you occupied:

Ever wonder what religion your faorite comic book characters practice? Wonder no more.

Think it’s easy to balance a goat? Check this out.

Has your cat ever been this thirsty?

This is a good, clean, (somewhat) funny joke.

Here’s Capitol Annex’s employee policy.

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Guest Blog From Barbara Radnofsky

[Another Great Guest Blog from Barbara Radnofsky, Candidate for U.S. Senate.—VL]

NASA/Galveston Bay: Today and this evening I spent in the Galveston Bay area speaking to residents near NASA who are outraged at the price of gasoline and Sen. Hutchison’s ranking as the number one recipient of oil lobby money.

→ continue reading

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Politics TV

Thanks to a post by Nate at Common Sense earlier today, I found out about a new site called PoliticsTV.com.

They’ve got a couple of channels I’ll direct your attention to: the Candidate Channel, where candidates can have their video posted, and the Democracy Channel, which includes video of a lot of great stuff including forums and other events (like today’s protest) related to Congress and other political stuff.

Check it out. It’s pretty neat.

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Congressman Gonzalez On Why He Voted Against The Markey Amendment

Via Eddie from The Red State, we have Congressman Charlie Gonzalez’s statement on why he voted against the Markey Amendment to COPE in committee the other day.

It’s over in the Press Room for your reading pleasure.

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Lone Star Times Victim Of Hackers

The Lone Star Times was down a bit this morning because their service provider got hit by “Islamohackers,” that knocked LST and several other conservative blogs offline.

Thanks to Texas Redd for letting me know about that, and for the hilarious Photoshop LST has up here, in their post about the service interruption.

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Jackson Lee/Darfur Protest Update

[Update: Via Nate at Common Sense, we have video: Windows Media Player verison here, QuickTime here, both from PoliticsTV.com].

Here’s Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s comments from her press release on today’s protest. I’ve also obtained a pic of her arrest:

On Friday April 28, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee will stand with other Members of Congress, civic leaders and students in an act of conscience to protest the Sudanese government and its hand in the Darfur genocide. This act of civil disobedience will take place at the Sudanese Embassy here in Washington, DC.

What is happening in the African nation of Darfur is an international tragedy and it is time for the violence to be stopped. Over 300,000 people have died and 2 million are now homeless. Countless women and young girls have been raped and children have been mutilated.

“I am proud to stand side by side with my Colleagues as we raise public awareness of the genocide in Darfur and work to build a lasting peace in that region of western Sudan. By taking this stand today we hope to teach others that Darfur is an important step in raising awareness and pressuring the Bush Administration to become more engaged in ending the suffering of those in the Darfur region.”


Over the last four years, more than 400,000 lives have been lost and over 2 million people have been forced from their homes as a result of a genocide undertaken against the African peoples of Darfur by the government of the Sudan and its Janjaweed militia. A campaign of the mass murder of unarmed civilians, of mass rape and torture, and the systematic destruction of villages and crops has been waged. Despite condemnations from many quarters, this genocide continues unabated today.

“We need the U.S. to take leadership in the process of achieving a resolution and to stop this genocide,” stated Congresswoman Jackson Lee.

Sheila Jackson Lee’s standing up for something very important. Remember Bosnia? It’s time we take action, real action.

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