Governor Rick Perry seems to have forgotten a cardinal rule of politics — if you're explaining, you're losing — as he has begun justifying his endorsement of Rudy Giuliani. This is different than the usual litany of reasons one pol gives for throwing his weight in with another, because it is distinctively red meat, and should come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Giuliani's policies: Perry says Giuliani will overturn Roe vs. Wade.

Today we have a tale of two takes on privacy, divergent in scope and application. First is Governor Rick Perry, who has a strict office policy that all email communications in or out of his office are destroyed after 7 days. The other is a senior official in the national intelligence directorate, who has a message for you: get used to a different definition of privacy.

This week's mailbag features some ponderings about the State Department's forced diplomatic deployment to Iraq and Dennis Kucinich's pocket impeachment filings.

I wasn't sure it was possible, but the Republican Party will have to do without two more incumbents. Reps Jim Saxton from New Jersey and Barbara Cubin from Wyoming are on the way out.

Via the news, Burnt Orange, and Bay Area Houston comes word that the leadership corps of the Fort Bend Republican Party has resigned. I knew the infighting was bad, but I didn't think it would happen like this in Tom DeLay's backyard.

Yesterday two very significant things happened to President George Bush. Late in the day, the Senate confirmed Michael Mukasey as attorney general by a vote of 53-40. Before that, the Senate aligned with the House and voted to override Bush's veto of a water projects bill, the first time his veto has been disregarded by the legislature.

Whether Judge Sharon Keller exercised poor judgment in shutting down the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals at 5:00 despite attempts to stay the imminent execution of Michael Richard is a foregone conclusion. Now the legality of her actions will be examined in a lawsuit filed by Richard's wife, which asserts Richard was denied his right to file an appeal.

We have, in this space, discussed the shortcomings of the American government's efforts to take care of veterans when they return home from war. We have strongly advocated increased aid and reforms for veterans' medical care and benefits as well as safeguards for their jobs and financial futures that may be endangered by their time spent serving this country. It was disturbing enough to learn that 25% of homeless adults in the United States are veterans; the fact that some veterans of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are turning up in homeless shelters indicates the problems run very deep, indeed.

Today is Election Day. You will have the opportunity to vote for amendments to the state constitution, and in some cases you'll be able to vote in special elections for various offices and city issues as well. Either way, today is the day for you to get out there and vote if you haven't voted already.

We all love the Daily Show, and Colbert, and maybe some of you still watch The Tonight Show. If you were looking forward to new episodes of those nightly bits of entertainment, you can forget it for the near future: the writer's strike is on.