Thursday Roundup: Dan Takes A Powder

Dan Patrick kept true to his roots and his peeps by leaving the floor of the Senate when Imam Yusuf Kavakci gave Wednesday morning's invocation. The imam is the leader of the Islamic Association of North Texas, and was invited by Senator Florence Shapiro, a Republican senator from Plano who also happens to be Jewish. If anyone thinks it is kind of silly for a radio host to act that way in the face of interfaith cooperation, you're right.

Later on in the day, Patrick had a few things to say about how proud he was that the imam was there and about how this is what we're fighting for in the Middle East, but he's not fooling anyone. Also, where does the Star Telegram keep digging up these pictures of people? It's like they have to be over-exposed and frightening as a rule.

In case you wanted a breakdown of what was done by whom during the epic budget battle, the Austin Chronicle has you covered. Of particular interest is the bit about Rep. Joe Heflin, who kept Pete Laney's seat and contributed an anti-voucher amendment of which Speaker Laney would have no doubt approved.

TXU was recently accused of market manipulation by the Public Utility Commission, who floated a $210 million fine against them for that activity. TXU's response was to threaten to shut down some natural gas plants. With $2.6 billion last year in profits, it seems like a stretch that they would have to do anything, ever, for profit reasons, but the threat remains.

Perry's trotting out of the the US Secretary of Transportation seems to have worked out for him, as the toll road contract moratorium passed the Senate, but not before being eviscerated of all effectiveness. It will have problems in the House, probably, but the backsliding is a disappointment.

If you're like me, you enjoy reading Salon articles from time to time. They've got an examination of Matthew Dowd's path from true believer to apostate in the Church of Bush. I'm always curious to hear about the relationship between the opposition party's members and their leaders, because it is not so different from how we operate, in our feelings and hopes. The difference is the basis for that base idolatry that politics often carries with it. It's a well-written, interesting read.

I'm also interested in fights over framing and language. Ever since George Lakoff started putting out books, everyone in the Democratic Party felt like they'd gotten an Associates Degree in Linguistics and commenced to argue about the langue and parole of politics. People that knwo what they're talking about know that the words you use to describe something are extremely important, and as such, the Republican movement in Congress to maintain the description of our foreign policy of the last six years as "the global war on terror" is no surprise, despite its sinister nature.

Finally, Democrats raised more money in the first quarter than Republicans. Surely this means Eurasia is on the march, right, MSM?