An interesting Democratic primary campaign is shaping up in Congressional District 10, with Larry Joe Doherty and Dan Grant fighting for the right to face 2nd-term Republican incumbent Michael McCaul in November.

It’s a battle of titans.

Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey are squaring off in Iowa, the former for his wife, Hillary, the latter for her chosen one, Barack Obama. They are so familiar to the American people that most simply refer to both by their first names (well, Democrats refer to Bill Clinton by his first name; Republicans have other monikers they prefer).

The CIA destroyed at least two video tapes of interrogations of al-Queda operatives, Abu Zubaydah and another unnamed detainee. The destruction of the tapes came during allegations of unlawful detainment and torture practices.

In this holiday season, while we hear about the “war on Christmas” and watch Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee fight for the votes of religious conservatives, I want to put in a good word for tolerance. Not just for other races and religions, but for intolerance.

Forgive me for waxing a bit Rumsfeldian with that title, dear readers. I've been out of circulation this week, but man oh man what a way to wade back into the pool of Texas politics. There's not other way to describe this poll from Lake Research other than damning.

In a briefing today held by President Bush, he announced his plan of action to help the millions of homeowners struggling to fight foreclosure on their homes. He then immediately gave out the wrong number for the hotline used to access the program.

Dear Mr. President,

How are you? I hope things are going well. I enjoyed your pardoning of the turkeys during Thanksgiving. It really gave me a chuckle when that one turkey interrupted your speech. Good times.

It lasted less than a week.

The great upswell of hope coming out of the Annapolis Summit died a young death this week as Israel announced plans to build new housing developments in East Jerusalem, in addition to the announcement by the Defense Ministry that Israel should start killing militants in Gaza.

It's once again time for the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly blog roundup. Also, this week we will be seeing the announcements of the TPA's annual Texan of the Year honors. Keep your eyes peeled for that!