GREETINGS FELLOW DEMOCRATS!





Block Walkers Needed!...

Good response to block walking request. We have 4 people. Folks, we need about 10 more. Let us hear from you.





Don’t forget:

1. TDW meeting	January 26
2. Voter Registration	February 4	Last day to register to vote in the primary (change addresses too)
3. Party	February 5	Super duper Tuesday primary election
4. Early Voting	February 19	First Day to early vote
5. Primary election	March 4
6. Convention	March 29	Brazos County Democratic Convention, Brazos Center 2 p.m.

March 4th Elections

If you are interested in working the election on March 4 we have almost all our workers...Linda and I should write a book. We don’t want to leave you out... Let us know.





Hutchison's border fence move raising a stink

Lynn Brezosky
Express-News
Web Posted: 01/10/2008 11:31 PM CST

BROWNSVILLE — Some conservatives are labeling U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a traitor after she slipped an amendment into the federal budget bill passed last month that some say effectively kills the border fence.

The conservative radio world and blogosphere has been buzzing with outcry that the amendment — which removed the requirement under the Secure Fence Act for a double-layered fence and gave Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff flexibility in its placement — did just that.

Nationally syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin decried the "incredible shrinking border fence." Others called Hutchison "Benedict Arnold" and said the Texas Republican used the "cover of Christmas" to ram the measure through.

Hutchison says there's a lot of misinformation out there.

"Border patrol agents reported that coyotes and drug-runners were altering their routes as fencing was deployed, so the amendment gives our agents discretion to locate the fence where necessary to achieve operational control of our border," she said.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/global-includes/printstory.jsp?path=/news/metro/stories/MYSA011108.01A.borderfence0111.29b7f16.html





IRS is asked to look into vote effort

By JAY ROOT
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Posted on Fri, Jan. 11, 2008

It's no secret that evangelical voters helped Republican Gov. Rick Perry win re-election in 2006. But critics now allege that the effort to get congregants to the polls ran afoul of federal tax laws, and they say the same tactics are being used to promote former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's GOP bid for the White House.

A top Perry aide calls the accusations baseless "conspiracy theories."

At issue is the Texas Restoration Project, a religious organization that urged evangelicals to stand up for Christian values at the ballot box. According to the Texas Freedom Network, a liberal government watchdog group, the mobilization was bought and paid for by major Republican donors in apparent violation of federal tax laws.

On Thursday, the group called for an IRS investigation.

"It's bad enough when politicians and their financial backers misuse faith by dragging our houses of worship into partisan political campaigns," said Kathy Miller, president of the Freedom Network. "It's even worse if they break the law to do so. It now appears that the organizers of the Texas Restoration Project may have done both."

Big donors

The group said the Restoration Project got most of its funding from a Houston-based nonprofit organization, the Niemoller Foundation, whose major donors included San Antonio businessman James Leininger, Houston home builder Bob Perry and East Texas chicken magnate Bo Pilgrim. Those donors together have given millions to Perry, who is not related to Bob Perry.

In its complaint to the IRS, the Freedom Network said its findings have national implications because of links between the Texas groups and similar efforts designed to help Huckabee's campaign in South Carolina, which holds its GOP primary Jan. 19.

Polls show that evangelical voters could make up about half the vote in the crucial primary, the first in the South. Huckabee's campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Texas Freedom Network is a nonprofit group founded in the 1990s by the daughter of former Democratic Gov. Ann Richards. Perry spokesman Robert Black says the group's complaint "isn't worth the paper it's written on."

"This is a leftist secular organization that wants people of faith to stay home," Black said. "The governor doesn't agree with that."

Black said the complaint does not demonstrate that any laws were broken. "They offer no proof. They offer salacious allegations and wild conspiracy theories," Black said.

According to documents provided by the Texas Freedom Network, the Niemoller Foundation funneled nearly $1.3 million to the Texas Restoration Project, which in turn staged "Pastors' Policy Briefings" and voter mobilization efforts ahead of the 2006 elections. The Restoration Project was led by the Rev. Laurence White of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Houston. White, also listed as a board member of the Niemoller Foundation, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

http://www.star-telegram.com/389/v-print/story/403853.html





Young Feminists Split: Does Gender Matter?

By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 11, 2008; A01

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The two students walked on the same paths across campus here this week, past the dormitory where Hillary Rodham lived for four years, past two dozen framed portraits of groundbreaking women in Alumnae Hall, past the banners on the quad proclaiming "Wellesley: Women Who Will." But Katie Chanpong and Aubre Carreon Aguilar -- feminists and political activists -- arrived at contradictory conclusions.

"If you're a woman, you vote for Hillary because of what it means to women everywhere," said Chanpong, a sophomore.

Carreon Aguilar, a senior, said: "If I'm supposed to vote for Hillary just because I'm a woman, that's kind of sexist."

Even here at Wellesley College, Hillary Rodham Clinton's alma mater and a historic bedrock of progressive feminist thought, support for the senator from New York hardly registers as unanimous. Instead, the election has inspired a debate at this women-only liberal arts college about what it means to be a feminist. Do you vote for a woman to shatter the glass ceiling and further the cause? Or do you make an empowered, individual decision that is not confined by gender?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/10/AR2008011003941_pf.html





For Young Voters In a Media Jungle, A Study Guide

Created by Students, VoteGopher.com Aims to Educate About the Issues

By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 11, 2008; C02

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- It's "taxing," "daunting," "overwhelming," Eugenia Garcia is saying. So many candidates: five in total, and that's just her Democrats. And so many issues to think about: Iraq, health care, global warming and immigration, the one she cares about most.

But online, where the 21-year-old political junkie follows the presidential campaign, "there's just too much information," she says. "I'm taking this election very seriously. I don't want to make the wrong decision."

Garcia, who's studying politics at Harvard, is living in a tech-savvy, hyper-connected world in which a monsoon of political information rains down on her each day. Four years ago, it was all about blogging, e-mail chains and MeetUp groups. Now add YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, each with its own political hub, and Garcia, already an overstuffed info consumer, faces a perplexing online gumbo. Where to go? What to read? Whom to trust?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/10/AR2008011003726_pf.html





Work Needed... Please Help!

This person needs a job. This individual seeks an executive position. He will be available in January 2009, and is willing to relocate. (Please don't skip the last section!)

RESUME

GEORGE W. BUSH
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20520


EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Law Enforcement:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.

Military:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.

College:
I graduated from Yale University with a low C average. I was a cheerleader.


PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.

I began my career in the oil business in Midland Texas , in 1975. I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.

With the help of my father and our friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Ken Lay), I was elected governor of Texas.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS:

I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.

I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.

I set the record for the most executions by any governor in American history.

With the help of my brother, the governor o f Florida , and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President of the United States, after losing by over 500,000 votes.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I am the first President in U.S. history to enter office with a criminal record.

I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one billion dollars per week.

I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.

I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.

I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.

I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market. In my first year in office, over 2 million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues.

I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleezza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.

I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. President.

I am the all-time U.S. and world record -holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.

My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history, Enron.

My political party used Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.

I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest corporate rip-offs in history. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.

I changed the U.S. policy to allow convict ed criminals to be awarded government contracts.

I appointed more convicted criminals to my administration than any President in U.S. history.

I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the history of the United States Government.

I've broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.

I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.

I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspector's access to U.S. "prisoners of war" detainees and thereby have refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.

I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors ( during the 2002 US election).

I set the record for fewest numbers of press conferences of any President since the advent of television.

I set the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one-year period. After taking off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S. history.

I garnered the most sympathy ever for the U.S. after the World Trade Center attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.

I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people), shattering the record for protests against any person in the history of mankind.

I am the first President in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against the will of the United Nations, t he majority of U.S. Citizens and the world community.

I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families in wartime.

In my State of the Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq and then blamed the lies on our British friends.

I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.

I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.

I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.


RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas are now in my father's library, sealed and unavailable for public view.

All records of SEC investigations into my insider trading and my bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records or minutes from meetings that I, or my Vice-President, attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. I specified that my sealed documents will not be available for 50 years.