During the 2006 race for Governor, Chris Bell said that if he were given the opportunity, he would fire Accenture. Accenture was the company chiefly responsible for administering many of Texas' social services. As an example, they had a huge contract to administer CHIP, and I've heard stories which include forms with incorrect fax numbers or applications going unprocessed for weeks or months. The news that Texas is ending Accenture's contract is good news to you if you would rather not have social services provided by government continue down the path to privatization.

Halliburton is on its way to Dubai, and so is Rick Perry. The Chron's Clay Robison wins the "Headline of the Day" award with this gem: "Perry Prepares to Gig 'Em in the Middle East." If I were having the month Perry's been having, I would be going out of town, too.

If you aren't on the Lone Star Project's email list, you may have missed this bit they did on Tom DeLay's new book, titled "No Retreat, No Surrender." Matt Angle, while reminding us what a horrible specimen DeLay is, produced what might be the most humorous photoshop featuring Tom DeLay and action star Jean-Claude Van Damme that you'll ever see, after the jump.

This week's feature is part one of a two-part examination of higher education in Texas, by Dr. Kimi King. This week's installment looks at how Texas ranks compared to other states on primary and secondary education programs as well as the economic benefits of kindergarten.

First John Edwards, and then everyone else: according to the Politico, the Nevada Democratic Party has pulled out of a Democratic Presidential primary debate that was going to be co-hosted by Fox News. Edwards declined to participate, specifically because of what we all know about Fox News — that it produces content that is undeniably biased against progressives. I'm sure there will be more on this story as the weekend progresses.

Yesterday's hearings on the TYC brought about some more unfortunate revelations and ended with a vote of No Confidence in the institution's governing board.

I checked the Politics page over at MSNBC this morning, and from looking at the headlines I was immediately struck by how different the news world and political climate are from a few years ago or, in some cases, a few months ago. The tide has officially turned in the court of American opinion, and it seems as if the media has at least made some strides towards doing the job we wish they'd been doing the last six years. In case you were wondering, the headlines that inspired these thoughts and the rest of the Roundup are after the jump.

I'm not usually a fan of online petitions, because most of the ones I see are in support of silly things, like bringing back Mr. Kotter or making Pocky illegal. But this one is definitely worth it — the TDP has a petition online which you can sign in support of fixing all the problems with CHIP, including doing away with the 90-day waiting period, extending the renewal rate from every six months to every year, and eliminating the assets test. You can find it here.

On this week's episode of Who's Blue?, I talk with Ellen Cohen, freshman State Representative from District 134 in Harris County.

We discuss her experiences so far in the 80th Session, her work at the Houston Area Women's Center, and legislation concerning the Texas Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Check it out here.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the men's basketball team from the University of North Texas, my alma mater, won the Sun Belt Conference title last night, which earned them a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 80's. This is a big deal for UNT, and they join Texas Tech, Texas, and A&M as the Texas delegation.