Friday Roundup: A Crisis In Trust

The Texas House will soon vote on a measure to take control of the TDEx database away from Governor Perry. Representative Swinford, author of the proposal which includes that measure as well other Homeland Security concerns, said it came about because of a "crisis in trust." Indeed. It seems like Republicans can trust their own leadership for support even less than they trust the opposition these days — the guys on top of the GOP keep making life hard.

Swinford said, in what I imagine was a line he's practiced a little, but which was great nonetheless:

"There's two people I trust, God and the Texas Rangers, and God was busy."

You bet He was. Busy, that is, making sure that Chisum's bill on Bible electives in Texas schools would pass out of committee. The Lord seemed to acknowledge some political reality, however, when He saw to it that the bill was amended so that providing the classes is only optional, not required. Onward to the floor, Brother Chisum.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave the President what for in private and in a news conference, telling him and the nation that the war in Iraq "is lost." This is an interesting turn in message, and it signifies that Democrats are more fully aligning with public opinion on the whole deal. It is something that can be easy to say, as an elected official, but it is what it is. Something will have to give soon on the war funding legislation.

The Washington Times, a bastion of accuracy, is running a story about how Senator Clinton is strong-arming donors to either support her or to support no one. I don't know if I buy that, but this race is likely it for Hillary Clinton — if she doesn't win the presidency, I don't know that she'll run for it again, perhaps instead deciding to build a long career in the Senate. So, I guess the time to strong-arm is now, after all.

Did you guys know TXU manipulates the utilities market? Oh yeah, we all knew that. How unfortunate for TXU that more and more stories about it keep coming out.

Finally, the Senate voted unanimously to overhaul the Texas Youth Commission. I used to have a friend who would grandly proclaim that "the failure of the plan is almost always in the execution." That's true, but also obvious. I think the really hard work is ahead of us on TYC.