Dan Dodd, Collin County Democratic Party Chairperson Hospitalized

Daniel Dodd, Chairperson of the Democratic Party of Collin County, was admitted to the hospital Friday to treat a blood clot in his leg.

Often termed "deep venous thrombosis" such blood clots can quickly kill if it moves up to the lungs, where can form a pulmonary embolism. This condition make headlines every few years when seemingly healthy people collapse after long airplane flights or being in similarly cramped quarters. Vice President Cheney suffered one after a long trip in 2006. NBC correspondent David Bloom died of one in 2003 after spending days inside a tank while covering the invasion of Iraq. The surgeon General estimates that every year, between 350,000 and 600,000 Americans get one of these clots — and at least 100,000 of them die.

If the blood clot is caught early and treated properly, patients do very well with a mortality risk of less than 5 percent. A major goal of treatment is to prevent further abnormal clotting in the body and to avoid complications such as the development of a blood clot in the lungs. Blood clots are treated by administering blood thinners, like Heparin, Coumadin or others such as Lovenox injections. Treatment can depend on many factors such as the size of the clot, but most of the time patients must be on a blood thinner for several months. Contrary to popular belief, blood thinners do not dissolve a clot. They keep new clots from forming and from the clot getting any bigger, but the body actually dissolves the clot itself.

Dodd was expect to remain in the hospital for up to three days.

Melting Greenland Ice Sheets May Threaten Northeast United States, Canada

ScienceDaily (May 28, 2009) — Melting of the Greenland ice sheet this century may drive more water than previously thought toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax, and other cities in the northeastern United States and Canada, according to new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The study, which is being published May 29 in Geophysical Research Letters, finds that if Greenland's ice melts at moderate to high rates, ocean circulation by 2100 may shift and cause sea levels off the northeast coast of North America to rise by about 12 to 20 inches (about 30 to 50 centimeters) more than in other coastal areas. The research builds on recent reports that have found that sea level rise associated with global warming could adversely affect North America, and its findings suggest that the situation is more threatening than previously believed.

"If the Greenland melt continues to accelerate, we could see significant impacts this century on the northeast U.S. coast from the resulting sea level rise," says NCAR scientist Aixue Hu, the lead author. "Major northeastern cities are directly in the path of the greatest rise."

Read the full story at ScienceDaily.com

Texans for Better Science Education Push For SBOE Chairman McLeroy's Confirmation

Update May 28, 2009 at 5:10PM - Voting strictly along party lines, the Senate refused to confirm McLeroy on a 19 to 11 vote - two less than the two-thirds majority required for confirmation. (With one Democrat not voting)

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Original Post May 28, 2009 at 12:17PM - Senate confirmation of Don McLeroy as chairman of the State Board of Education (SBOE) is expected to come up in the Texas Senate some time Thursday or Friday. McLeroy, a dentist who has no background in science or education, was first appointed SBOE chairman by Republican Governor Rick Perry in the summer of 2007. McLeroy was reappointed as SBOE chairman by Gov. Perry in 2009. Whether he can garner two-thirds approval from senators is an open question. Earlier in the session, many lawmakers believed his nomination wasn't even going to get out of committee.

The right-leaning Texans for Better Science Education, who advocates teaching creationism rather than evolution in Texas science classrooms, has sent "URGENT" messages to its members, asking them to call their senators to support McLeroy's confirmation. The group's argument?

"...He is being attacked NOT for anything done wrong during his two years as chair of the SBOE but primarily because he is Christian!"

Texans for Better Science Education contend that McLeroy is being attacked primarily [just] for being a Christian because;

As chairman of the State Board of Education, McLeroy advocates that Texas public school students should be taught "creation science" rather than biological evolution science. McLeroy is convinced that evolution taught uncritically to Texas students undermines the tenet of Christianity that people were created in the image of God.

McLeroy advocates that the Texas education standard, as set by the SBOE, must require Texas educators to have a "critical discussion" on the “strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories" with public school students.

McLeroy advocates that the science disciplines of physics, geology, biology and the archaeological study of the fossil record, which all provide evidence the earth is 4.5 billion years old and that biological processes first appeared at least 3.9 billion years ago, must be critically challenged by Texas teachers.

McLeroy advocates that teachers must engage Texas students in a "critical discussion" that archaeological evidence in the fossil record does not support the idea of natural selection as an explanation of how organisms evolved on earth over millions of years.

McLeroy wants teachers to lead students to the believe that cells and the DNA code controlling their function is so complex that intelligent design by a creator and not evolution is the only answer that can be accepted. McLeroy further advocates that the alternative "intelligent design scientific theory" should be offered to Texas students by science teachers.

In March, after a year of fierce debate about how evolution should be taught (or not taught) in Texas public schools, the State Board of Education (SBOE) voted on and passed a final version of new science education standards that will guide the content of science discussion and textbooks for the next decade.

In March, the State Board of Education removed the “critical discussion of strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories" language from the official education standard. McLeroy, supported by other creationists on the board, then effectively restored the “strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories" intent with alternative language. The amended phrases ask teachers to prompt students to “examine all sides of scientific evidence and scientific explanations so as to encourage critical thinking.”

The SBOE's decision has a large impact across the U.S. given Texas' ability, because of its size, to influence what is printed in textbooks nationwide. The new standard, with McLeroy's new language, allows him to pressure national textbook publishers to write the “strengths and weaknesses of evolution discussion" into textbooks used nationwide.

The Texans for Better Science Education group has focused their lobbying efforts on three socially-moderate Republican Senators, Sens. Seliger, Wentworth and Averitt, who have not yet voiced support for McLeroy.


KERA: Texas Schools Lag Behind in Bioscience Education (May 19, 2009)

"Only a Theory" 2:19	Barbara Forrest, Professor of Philosophy Southeastern Louisiana University - "When creationists try to dismiss evolution as 'only a theory,' they are misusing the word theory."
Avoiding the Supernatural 1:41	Nick Matzke, Public Information Project Director National Center for Science Education - "A conservative judge isn't going to just redefine science."
Science and Religion 2:29	Ken Miller, Biologist Brown University - "What science isn't very good at is answering questions [on] the meaning and purpose of things."
On Isaac Newton 1:34
A Solid Theory 1:18	Kevin Padian, Paleontologist UC Berkeley - "I don't know where people get the idea that evolution is a theory in crisis."
Natural Explanations 1:33	Robert T. Pennock, Philosopher and Evolutionary Scientist Michigan State University - "You can't have gaps that you fill in by appeal to miracles."
Science Is Not Dogmatic 2:02
Science Tests Its Claims 1:12	Eugenie Scott, Executive Director National Center for Science Education - "If you teach intelligent design as a science, you are confusing students about the nature of science."
The Power of Science 1:23	Neil Shubin, Paleontologist University of Chicago and the Field Museum - "Not every idea, no matter how beautiful, qualifies as science."

Voter ID Died Quietly At Midnight Last Night

Cartoon from LoneStar Times

Good news: Voter ID died quietly at midnight last night. House rules require at least initial floor action on bills five days before adjournment. Democrats slowed up House business enough that the Voter ID was not introduced on the floor for initial action before last night's deadline.

Bad news: Other legislation behind the Voter ID bill on the calendar was not introduced on the House floor for initial action either.

So, a bill to use $550 million in federal stimulus dollars to extend unemployment benefits for 200,000 unemployed Texans died at midnight last night too. (This was to override Gov. Perry's rejection of the federal stimulus money.)

House Republicans placed partisan politics above not only unemployed Texans, but also insurance reform, energy efficiency, renewable energy initiatives, the Texas Windstorm Insurance program, air quality, expansion of the Child Health Insurance Program and more. Texas Republicans, who control the legislative calendar, placed Voter ID legislation ahead of all this other legislation, which conservative Republicans oppose, so they could blame Democrats for killing it, rather than take the heat themselves.

On the other hand, Republicans who control the House can move to ignore House rules to revive some of the dead legislation for House action. Two-thirds of the House members would have to vote favorably on such a move, but House Democrats have said they will support a two-thirds vote on all but the Voter ID legislation. So, the ball remains in the Republican House leaders' court to act on insurance reform, energy efficiency, renewable energy initiatives, the Texas Windstorm Insurance program, air quality, expansion of the Child Health Insurance Program and more in the remaining days of this session.

So now there's just the wild card - the possibility that Gov. Perry will call a special session of the legislature, after the regular session adjourns. And, if Gov. Perry does call a special session, will Republicans use that session to force another Voter Photo ID showdown.

• Voter ID Chubbed Into Submission: Why The Last Five Days Will Hurt Republicans And Help Democrats In 2010
• Democrats Save Voting Rights; Republicans Steal Unemployment Compensation and Grin
• Logjam of bills forms in House

As Conservatives Firmly Dominate The Federal Judiciary, They Say No Non-Conservatives Allowed

President Obama has just made the first nomination to the Supreme Court by a Democratic President in fifteen years.

Even with just two justices on the Supreme Court that were appointed by a Democratic president (Breyer and Ginsburg), the rationale for Republicans to mount a filibuster against Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee extends back to post election day last November.

Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, is quoted on November 7, 2008, that he would filibuster Obama's appointments.

Last December Ceci Connolly, national staff writer for the Washington Post reported that, "Word on the street is that Karl Rove is going to be helping lead the fight against Obama's nominations as part of the Republican Party's strategy.

On Fox News just a couple of Sundays back Mitch McConnell explained why he's open to filibustering President Obama's (then unnamed) Supreme Court nominee. When the Bush administration was making nominations to a Republican controlled Senate before 2007, McConnell vehemently opposed any such filibuster - by Democrats.

The ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jeff Sessions, suggested little more than a week ago the "automatic powerful deference" given to the President's Supreme Court nominees in the past is just that - something of the past. As justification Sen. Sessions claimed Democrats filibustered Bush Supreme Court nominees, preventing a him from appointing "conservative judges," therefore Republican Senators are now obligated to filibuster Obama's judicial nominees to restore judicial balance. Sen. Sessions doesn't have that quite right; While Democrats threatened to vote against cloture on ten of Bush's federal lower court nominees during his first term in 2003 and 2004, they did not filibuster Pres. Bush's Supreme Court nominees.

Sen. Kyl, again just a week ago refused to rule out a filibuster or other stall tactics to to delay or derail confirmation of President Barack Obama Supreme Court Justice nominee. Kyl spoke for many conservative Republicans when, in 2005, Republicans threatened the filibuster "nuclear option," against Senate Democrats who were being urged by their constituents to filibuster President Bush's "conservative activist" nominees to the lower federal and supreme courts.

SEN. JOHN KYL on PBS News Hour April 25, 2005: "For 214 years it has been the tradition of the Senate to approve judicial nominees by a majority vote. Many of our judges and, for example, Clarence Thomas, people might recall, was approved by either fifty-one or fifty-two votes as I recall. It has never been the rule that a candidate for judgeship that had majority support was denied the ability to be confirmed once before the Senate. It has never happened before. So we're not changing the rules in the middle of the game. We're restoring the 214-year tradition of the Senate because in the last two years Democrats have begun to use this filibuster."

That Republican threat to eliminate the filibuster rule, of course, was in 2005 after Republicans increased their control of congress in the 2004 election. The threat worked - Senate Democrats did not filibuster Pres. Bushes judicial nominees and no longer voted against cloture, thus allowing Pres. Bush and Senate Republicans to confirm extreme right-wing lower court and supreme court judges, effectively eliminating Democrats from the "advise and consent" process.

In December 2008 the Washington Post reported that George W. Bush has been enormously successful at placing his picks on federal appeals courts and that has led to Republican domination of most of the nation's judicial circuits. The numbers that demonstrate just how solidly Bush has packed the courts with Republican judges are pretty compelling:

After Bush's eight years in office, Republican-appointed majorities firmly control the outcomes in 10 of these courts, compared with seven after President Bill Clinton's tenure. They also now share equal representation with Democratic appointees on two additional courts.

That's out of a total of 13 judicial circuits (12 regular regional circuits plus the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which hears special national cases). In 2001, the political breakdown of the nation's appeals court was about even, with 77 judges appointed by Democrats, 74 by Republicans and 27 vacancies. The current breakdown is 66 Democrats, 102 Republicans and 11 vacancies.

In his appointments of John Roberts as Chief Justice and Samuel Alito, Jr. to replace the pivotal Sandra O'Connor, President G. W. Bush succeeded in appointing two solid conservatives to the Court, insuring a more likely conservative result in 5-4 court decisions. The pivotal position relinquished by O'Connor passed to Anthony Kennedy, who joined the conservative bloc of justices Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito 15 out of 20 occasions in the 2006 and 2007 court sessions. The more liberal bloc of justices Stevens, Ginsburg, Souter, and Breyer have been in the minority on 3 out of 4 "split decisions" made by the court since Justice O'Connor's departure. (Click on the Justices link if you wish to see voting data from the Court's 2007-08 term.)

In an article for the New Yorker, legal analyst and former assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Toobin describes Bush appointee Chief Justice John Roberts as “the Supreme Court’s stealth [conservative] hard-liner.” According to Toobin, despite Roberts’ disarming charm, and his insistence he is a strict constructionist with moderate views, [as he described himself in his Senate confirmation testimony,] his actions on the bench have been those of a “doctrinaire conservative.” “Doctrinaire conservative” is just another name for an "activist judge" with conservative ideology.

Toobin writes that although Roberts calls himself as a strict constructionist and a “judicial restraint” conservative, “according to Harvard’s Laurence Tribe, ‘The Chief Justice talks the talk of moderation while walking the walk of extreme conservatism.’”

After four years as Chief Justice, Roberts’s record is not that of a “judicial restraint” "strict constructionist" conservative with moderate views, but the kind of "authoritarian conservative" that almost always defers to the existing power relationships in society. In every major case since he became the nation’s seventeenth Chief Justice, Roberts has sided with the prosecution over the defendant, the state over the condemned, the executive branch over the legislative, and the corporate defendant over the individual plaintiff.”

According to Toobin, Roberts has recently led 5-4 majorities on the Court in far-reaching decisions considered as setbacks for anti-trust and anti-discrimination lawsuits. In a recent opinion on school desegregation efforts Roberts argued that if government-mandated segregation is unconstitutional, then government-mandated integration must be unconstitutional as well — an opinion that “drew an incredulous dissent from Stevens.” (Are activist conservatives advocating a move back to "whites only" signs on drinking fountains under the "separate but equal" doctrine cherished by southern "states rights" advocates? Gov. Perry?)

"The Supreme Court on Tuesday made it easier for the police and prosecutors to question suspects, lifting some restrictions on when defendants can be interrogated without their lawyers present," David Stout reports in the New York Times:

In a 5-to-4 ruling, the court overturned its 1986 opinion in a Michigan case, which forbade the police from interrogating a defendant once he invoked his right to counsel at an arraignment or a similar proceeding.

That 1986 ruling has not only proved “unworkable,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority, but its “marginal benefits are dwarfed by its substantial costs” in that some guilty defendants go free. Justice Scalia was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

However, "In an angry dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the 1986 decision, said that contrary to the majority’s assertion, that decision protected 'a fundamental right that the court now dishonors.'”

Back when Democrats were expressing skepticism about President Bush's nomination of Samuel Alito and John Roberts to the supreme court, Republicans, who then controlled both houses of congress as well as the White House, chastised Democrats for "pre-judging" the nomination.

That doesn't appear to have been a principled stance given Republicans have been "pre-judging" Obama's nominee since last November.

And the media itself is rushing to join Republicans in "pre-judging"President Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court as too liberal.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, while in Lubbock today, said her initial response to President Obama's appointee was tepid at best. The senator was among 28 Republicans who voted against Judge Sotomayor's appointment to the appeals court in 1998. Hutchison says she voted against Judge Sotomayor a decade ago because of her "judicial activism" as a district court judge.

When you hear Republicans complain about how the federal and supreme courts are "stacked" with activist liberal judges legislating from the bench, just remind them that:

• President Obama has just made the first Democratic nominee to the Supreme Court in fifteen years.
• There are now only two justices on the Supreme Court appointed by a Democratic president (Breyer and Ginsburg)
• Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Scalia have proven track records as Conservative Activist Judges who are legislating conservative law from the bench
  
• 15 out of the last 20 occasions 5-4 split court decisions when the conservative way, legislating conservative law from from the bench
• Republican-appointed majorities firmly control the outcomes in 10 of the 13 federal appelate courts with Conservative Activist Judges legislating conservative law fromthe bench

Continue Reading:

• Rove attacks Obama nominee even before she’s named; ‘Unabashed liberal’
• Conservatives call Sotomayor 'dumb,' 'bully,' Obama's 'Harriet Miers'
• Sotomayor GOP's 'least favorite'
• Sonia Sotomayor: 10 Things You Should Know about her
  

Organizing for America has posted this special message video from the President on its website.

Question: What is the difference between conservative "judicial activism" as practiced by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Scalia and liberal "judicial activism?" Answer: Conservative "judicial activists" believe that the votes of the many outweigh the rights of the few or the one, whereas liberal "judicial activists" believe that the the rights of the few or the one outweigh votes of the many.

Memorial Day

With great respect, this goes out to all that have served in our armed forces, and those that have lost loved ones fighting for everything most Americans take for granted:






Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.
Dear Madam,--

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,

A. Lincoln

"Southern Exposure" For Shrinking Republican Party

"For GOP, A Southern Exposure" - National Journal Details The Shrinking Republican Party. "Republican strength in the South has both compensated for and masked the extent of the GOP's decline elsewhere. By several key measures, the party is now weaker outside the South than at any time since the Depression; in some ways, it is weaker than ever before." Read the full story in the National Journal Magazine (long article, but worth the read)

Democrats Use Stalling Tactics On Voter ID

KERA News (2009-05-22)

[A decision by the Republican controlled Calendars Committee late Thursday night to schedule the Voter ID bill for floor debate for Saturday, ahead of debating the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) Sunset bill, clean air bill and transporting guns to work bill, dares Democrats to run out the clock on those important bills by running out the session clock to stop the Voter ID bill.]

Talkative House Democrats used stalling tactics Friday to stall the voter identification bill that has been scheduled for debate this weekend.

Democrats - who warned they would put up a fight to stop the voter ID measure - began talking at length on non-controversial legislation Friday to use up the clock. The "talking" tactic, known as "chubbing," takes advantage of procedural rules to stall House business. This puts a lot of pressure on the members who have other bills they want to pass. The Legislature adjourns June 1 so there is not much time left on the 2009 legislative session clock.

Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, leader of the House Democrats, said members of his party were willing to compromise on key legislation but would continue to use parliamentary maneuvers to keep the voter ID bill off the House floor. "We're not being obstructionists. We're not killing any bills. We're not breaking quorum," Dunnam said. "We're trying to get the House's priorities back in order."

Dunnam said Democrats would allow important bills to be taken up and passed out of order with a vote of a supermajority of legislators - two-thirds of them. But that would take bipartisan agreement, which so far has been elusive.

More in "Voter Photo ID Bill Up For House Vote, Maybe!"

Texas Legislative Study Group Recommends against Voter Photo Identification (Report PDF)

Here is the Texas House video streams link page, if you want to watch when the House gavels in at 10AM Saturday morning.

Investments In Clean Energy - Good For America, Good For Texans!

Race car driver and environmental activist Leilani Münter visits one of the largest wind farms in the world, NextEra Energy's wind turbine farm outside of Abilene, Texas

Denton Municipal Electric (DME), the City of Denton's municipally-owned electric utility, has entered into a multi-year power purchase agreement to purchase renewable energy from NextEra Energy Resources, LLC ("NextEra").

NextEra owns and operates the Wolf Ridge Wind Farm located northwest of Muenster, Texas and is the largest generator of wind and solar renewable energy in North America.

Beginning May 1, 2009, NextEra will sell green energy to DME to supply its customers' long-term power needs and meet the utility's renewable energy objectives. This agreement will provide Denton with approximately 60 megawatts of renewable energy that comprises about 40% of its energy portfolio on an average monthly basis.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act Thursday night. This legislation, if passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Obama will facilitate more investment in clean energy and reductions in global warming pollution as is now happening in Denton Texas.

Not only did the bill clear a major hurdle on Thursday night--moving out of committee and closer toward the House floor. But it did so with the backing of lawmakers representing a wide range of energy needs. The bill has broad support from many environmental, business, labor, and other organizations.

Oh, and by the way, you've no doubt heard that the Republican National Committee just voted to recognize "that the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals." Denton Municipal Electric, the City of Denton's "government owned" electric utility, is a classic example of a socialist government in practice. Last time I checked, Denton was still a very Republican city in a very Republican county. Read Glenn Melancon's "Socialist Ghosts" posting in this blog.

Healthcare Reform - The Battle Of Words

HuffingtonPost.com: A memo from Republican strategist Dr. Frank Luntz lays out Republican talking points to dismantle arguments for to giving all Americans access to quality health care. Dr. Luntz, the man who developed language designed to promote preemptive war in Iraq and distract from the severity of global warming, is at it again -- this time with a messaging strategy designed to sink our historic opportunity for health care reform.

Politico.com - Democratic strategist Paul Begala “is circulating a point-by-point rebuttal of GOP consultant Frank Luntz’s widely read strategy memo on health care.” The memo urges “congressional Democrats to push back hard against ‘Republican Orwellian rhetoric.’” “Because they know they cannot win the argument honestly, Republicans are resorting to mendacity,” Begala wrote in the memo. “Democrats must not let them get away with it.”

Related Postings:

• Republicans Gear Up To Say NO To Healthcare Reform