Senator John Edwards opened the Friday night General Session of the Young Democrats of America convention in Dallas with several standing ovations and strong support from the YDA delegates, guests, and press in attendance.

George, Grace, and Patrick are down in Dallas at the YDA convention and I'm on the Disabled List, stuck at the house with a hitch in my giddyup. As such, this week's mailbag will be All Josh, All The Time.

Citgo Petroleum Corp. and a refining subsidiary were indicted last year on several environmental crime charges after an unannounced inspection at their plant located in Corpus Christi. The company was convicted on two of those charges — both related to operating enormous oil tanks without proper emissions equipment in place — on June 27.

Watching this video at the Huffington Post reminds me of why I am so happy to be a College Democrat.

The Bush Administration and the Republican noise machine are doing their dead level best to fool the public twice. Most galling in this effort is their attempt to use the very same arguments as before to push their war agenda. They are claiming that we cannot leave Iraq because al-Qaeda has established a stronghold making Iraq the central front of the war on terror. Yet this time the American public is not buying it. Cream-skimming and cherry-picking of intelligence for the sake of presidential prerogative is no longer allowed.

Major General Rick Lynch has been popping up on the news and at Pentagon briefings a lot lately. According to some, he is well thought of in the military community. He seems to be living up to the Army's Campaign Plan, communicating the Army's message the way it wants — even writing a column carried as news in the Third ID's local paper. Some reporters and at least one other officer are uncomfortable with this as it seems to walk close to the edge of propaganda.

(Originally published by Examiner News)

Why not Texas? It would seem that if you faced a massive problem, you would want to be in the forefront of finding solutions. Sadly, that doesn't appear to be the case when it comes to health care insurance in Texas.

IAVA Member Jesus Boconegra sends this dispatch about veterans from the South Texas Valley.

I am on a number of new mailing lists since I was recently a candidate in a non-partisan race for Dallas City Council. I just received one which I find VERY interesting: Senator Cornyn is coming to North Texas.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff reports that his gut is telling him a terrorist attack may occur this summer. I suppose after receiving such dire warnings from his gut, Chertoff surely verified this intelligence by consulting the official Homeland Security Tarot Cards or the department’s trusty Magic Eight Ball.