Daily News Roundup, 12/11/07: Are You Ready For Some House Regulated Industries Committee Hearings?!

All my rowdy friends are coming over to see Phil King rule that the state doesn't have jurisdiction over this business-to-business dispute. Jerry Jones and Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL, were in Austin yesterday to make their respective cases about whether the NFL Network should be available on basic cable or if it should be some sort of premium charge.

I somehow feel like, if this is left up to Texas, the ubiquitous "Big Cable" will win out. That will disappoint fans everywhere, but perhaps they can take comfort in the idea that the free market wins in Texas' pro-business, anti-consumer environment, even against the Cowboys. In that environment, assertions about the free market could probably even beat the Patriots.

Dana Perino was on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me recently, during which she revealed that she has some knowledge gaps when it comes to American history. Specifically, she didn't know what the Cuban Missile Crisis was. This isn't a direct criticism or anything, but I would think that for the White House Press Secretary, context is a useful tool to have.

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that federal judges have broad discretion when it comes to sentencing in criminal matters. Essentially, they ruled that the sentencing guidelines are only advisory and that the judge may levy a sentence he or she feels is appropriate to the specifics of the case. I don't have a snappy line to go along with this, but it is an important judicial development, and so I eschew humor in this case for the sake of inclusion.

Evolution has become a matter of discussion among education professionals and the Texas Education Agency recently after former science curriculum director Chris Comer was railroaded out for circulating an email that gave the slightest hint that intelligent design might not be all it is cracked up to be. Now, several biology professors from several universities around the state have signed a letter to TEA asserting that state officials should not be restricted to neutrality on evolution. The point that something like this forced resignation reduces the state's ability to attract educators and researchers is not understated, and shouldn't be missed.

If you're thinking about running for Texas State Senate, the price of doing so is on the rise. According to the Austin American-Statesman, the current going rate for a serious campaign is about $2 million. State Senate districts do include a great many people, so the price shouldn't be all that surprising, I suppose. This detail is important:

The reasons, say political strategists and observers, are more than just increased costs of everything from gasoline to TV advertising to consultants. Areas in Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth that have voted strongly Republican are now leaning more Democratic. South Texas areas that have voted for Democrats are trending more Republican — meaning more serious challenges, when both sides are prone to spend more.

"There are less (incumbents) getting free rides," said Dana Chiodo, a government affairs consultant and author of the Source Book, which analyzes legislative races. "There will probably be more candidates this time, more challenges."

So not only does everything cost more, but the demographic shift underway in this state is making everything more competitive. Things are happening, and if you take the long view, they look good for Democrats.

On the heels of his Nobel Prize win, Al Gore wants you to know that not only is he not running for president, which I think we all knew by now, but he is also not going to work in the next administration. He might, at some point, run for president again, but that's the only way he would get back into politics. He's still young enough to put a run together later on, and who knows? Maybe by 2016 he'll have saved the world or something.

Finally today, a little perspective. You know all those stories that Republican presidential candidates (I'm looking at you, Tancredo) tell you about terrorists getting into the United States every day in the same manner that illegal immigrants do? That doesn't really happen. Now, border security is a big deal, as is deterring terrorism. Concerns about terrorists utilizing porous borders to enter the United States are valid. But the specter raised in extreme campaign ads and talk-radio rhetoric by the right has largely thus far been only that: a specter.