I believe that it has been established that abstinence education

does not work, particularly so in Texas, which has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation.

So this reads like a cute little snarky something-or-other until you realize that Texas is exporting abortion restriction legislation to other states across the country (Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, etc. and that's just this past week).

If you think W Bush (and not Ralph Nader) is how we got started down this slippery slope, then it behooves you to also consider that if Texas goes blue, the Republican party nationally is history. For a generation or two, maybe longer if the Dems don't fuck it up.

Translation: Democrats, but certainly Texas Democrats, need more people of color, more female, more poverty-stricken, and more younger people voting. Snarking on Texas women, primarily those who are brown, young, and poor -- though they won't ever read it, and as light-hearted as it seems -- isn't helping make that happen.

Wu is one of the fast-rising Democratic freshmen

in the Houston delegation of the Texas House. He married a local TV reporter; they're expecting a child shortly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/fashion/weddings/miya-shay-gene-wu-weddings.html

He's also the busiest Twitterer in the Texas Lege.

https://twitter.com/GeneforTexas

That was precisely the moment when

the gallery erupted -- some moment between 11:45-11:50 pm -- and they did not cease yelling until the last of them were dragged out by the DPS troopers, around 12:15 am.

The turning point. The tipping point. When the first domino lost its balance and started a chain reaction. The actual moment when you knew Texas was turning from red to blue.

The picture I took note of was this one:

Yes. Hers is that

benign racism that pervades the South (and exports poorly). I have known people like her all. of my. life. Fellow Southerners tend to excuse her "truth", repeating a variation of 'everybody I know talks like this, that's why there's nothing wrong with it'. Low expectations have NOTHING on soft bigotry like actual 21st century bigotry. It's like buttah, smeared all over her just like it is her recipes.

The classic question -- at least for me -- was when Chris Rock was asked by a white lady why it was OK for black people to use the N-word and not white people. His response?

"Why do you want to use it?"

Extremely doubtful

for a generation or two. But Texas CAN be won much sooner, and when that happens, the South -- and with it, the GOP -- are immediately irrelevant. I would think this scenario is particularly important to accomplish if the SCOTUS strikes down the VRA.

#PaulasBestDishes

These aren't liberals.

These are neoliberals. Which are closer to being neoconservatives than they are to actual liberals and progressives.

Very important distinction

Greenwald mentioned in yesterday morning's segment (where he got inot it with Mika B) that 'probable cause' has been revised to 'reasonable basis', and that is why, of the 1079 FISA warrants requested by NSA recently, only one was declined.

This is not oversight, it's a rubber stamp.

I have empathy for them

and it is also accurate that many of them must begin voting consistently, and they must also vote for people who don't want to just watch them suffer and die.

This seems intrinsic, but it is not.