Thursday Roundup: Perry Folds Like Superman on Laundry Day

After what seemed like eons, Rick Perry agreed yesterday to not only place TYC in a conservatorship (under perennial pal Jay Kimbrough) but also to change the structure of the agency so that it will have a commissioner. Jay Kimbrough is going to fire all the felons and no one's job is safe.

What did Perry get in return for that? Apparently, accountability is no longer a big deal. Republican state Rep Delwin Jones has even filed legislation which, while it is not specific to the TYC investigation, it is pretty specific to the TYC investigation. It provides for lawmakers to be able conduct closed, confidential hearings. Jones says this is so they can get some answers. I think it is so choices can be made about what to do with those answers.

Tom DeLay rolled out the Grand High Bugaboo of Election Terrors in Dallas last night while pushing his book at a Barnes & Noble. Republicans had better get their act together, he says, or Hillary Clinton will become President during the No Good, Very Bad Election in 2008. That attitude doesn't sound very No Retreat, No Surrender to me.

Speaking of getting together and putting aside differences, the New York Times has something to say about how swimmingly the Democratic effort to engineer a withdrawal from Iraq is going. Senator Dick Durbin and I are both surprised about the same thing — that the Senatorial caucus has managed to stay together, with a few exceptions, on the major points since the session began. The Democrats, despite constant veto threats, have become the party that controls the agenda on every salient issue at hand in American politics. I love that they talked to Gary Hart about the sophisticated security needs in the 21st century, but that's mostly because I am a fan of Gary Hart. Anyone who ever read Bloom County will know why.

That Democratic agenda control is quite powerful. So much so that the President of the United States has been reduced to cracking wise about legislation dealing with the Iraq War in public speeches. Absent from his assertions about how he will veto the Iraq spending bills was any explanation of why he would delay funding for American forces by vetoing the Iraq spending bill.

The primary took one step closer to being in February yesterday when HB 2017 cleared the House Elections committee. Senator Royce West is responsible for the House bill's counterpart in the Senate, and everyone seems confident the whole deal is going to make it through with nary a hitch. It is the very fact that everyone is getting along that makes me think it could all go wrong, and we'll up with a primary in October or something.

Finally today, the city of San Marcos has embarassed most other cities in Texas by initiating a project for a city-wide wireless network. The benefits for utility, public service, and emergency responders are obvious, and the potential efficiency and developments brought about by interoperability between municipal and educational networks is enormous. I was surprised to see the updated list of municipalities with wireless projects in the works, though:

Texas cities including Addison, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Farmer's Branch, Granbury, Houston and Plano have launched wireless network projects. Houston signed a deal with EarthLink in February to build a 600-square mile citywide network that will eventually be one of the largest in the United States.

This isn't really the list of heavy hitters I expected. I mean, Granbury? Seriously? I grew up in Cleburne, and Granbury would never have made my list of "Top Cities Carrying The Technological Torch Into The Future." But way to go, Granbury.