T’was the night before Christmas…
and all through the House, and Senate too, I want to wish my readers a joyous and safe holiday season. –pb
BREAKING: House committee assignments »
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Not with a bang but a whimper »
Perry will deliver State of the State address on Tuesday; is it his last? »
SAEN: DNC finance chair Munoz’s career marred by fiscal debacle »
“Battleground Texas” »
Campbell, Davis draw two-year terms »
The way politics ought to be »
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Beerman says:
Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Keep up the good works in 2013. I always enjoy your articles and the blog.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
To All My Democrat Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally
conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular
… practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of
the generally accepted calendar year 2013, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great.
Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country, nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere.
Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishees.
To My Republican Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
December 25th, 2012 at 10:55 am
A Democrat is one person. It should read, Democratic friends. Merry Christmas everyone.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
December 26th, 2012 at 6:11 pm
its democrat deal with it
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Kenneth D. Franks Reply:
December 27th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
It’s the Democratic party. I am a Democrat.
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 6:42 am
now you’re getting it you’re a democrat
How hard was that?
South Texan says:
Thanks, Paul.
Your readers appreciate your good wishes–and your good blogs throughout the year.
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VivaPaulBurka says:
Feliz Navidad! Happy Birthday Jesus Christ.
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Blue Dogs says:
The Fort Worth Star Telegram is reporting several state legislators are trying to push for term limits on all elected officials with a limit of 12 years.
I just do NOT see this going anywhere in my lifetime.
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WURSPH says:
Charles Dunning & the Texas Capitol
Late, late one dark night (around 3 am) in early 1980s I was working on a special project in the first floor office of the State Senator who I worked for then when I heard a strange noise coming from outside in the hall¨.
I peaked out the door and there zigzagging back and forth across the wide corridor in a sort of a dance while “singing” without any musical background a song that seemed to be about politics was a heavy-set man with white hair and what appeared to be a familiar face. During my 35 plus years in and around the Capitol, I saw many curious things, but this was about the most curious of all.
I stared at the dancing, singing man. He, with a quizzical look on his face—probably matching the one on my own–stared back and continued his dance. I closed the door and went back to work. He continued singing and dancing, if you could call it that. It was a few days later when I finally realized what the strange apparition was….a private view of Charles Dunning rehearsing one of the funniest movie routines I was ever to see–and one especially appropriate to the place where he was performing it.
Dunning was doing the famous routine in which the character portraying the governor explains how he stays out of trouble in politics by going a little bit this way, then a little bit that way from in the movie of the play “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” which was to start filming in the State Capitol building within a few days. I guess he felt the need to get the “feel of the place.” I can not say that Dunning looked that much like Gov. Dolph Briscoe who “played the role” in the real-life events surrounding the closing of the (in)famous “Chicken Ranch” Brothel just outside LaGrange on which the play and movie were based. (In fact, he looked much better.) However, I can say that he was obviously a better dancer and singer than Briscoe could ever have been.
¨ The Capitol was open 24-hours per day, 364 days per year (all but Christmas) in those long, long ago innocent days.
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Bodhisattva Reply:
December 27th, 2012 at 9:25 am
I miss the days when you used to be able to go to the Capitol at any hour of the day or night and stroll around inside. No metal detectors, no hassle. It was the people’s building then. So much has changed …
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WUSRPH Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
The security stupidity craze is part of the reason whey the place is now locked up half the time…but another reason was that some “ladies of the evening” were alleged to be practicing their professions in the door wells…Some folks said how could they tell the difference between their activities and what always goes on in the building, but I would never say that.
Which reminds me of what my Irish cousin, Oliver St. John Gogarty, said in the Irish Senate to save the trees along the river that runs through Dublin that were also being used by practitioners of that old profession. When a motion was made to cut the trees down to drive the ladies away, he saved the trees by arguing that they were not the guiltily parties but were “more sinned against than sinners.”
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Tom Barry Reply:
December 27th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
I’m sure it was just a typo, but for the record, the actor’s last name is spelled “Durning,” rather than “Dunning,” which is a legal term for a lawyer trying to get a client to pay up (just a lame lawyer joke, can’t help myself).
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WUSRPH Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
If you want a lawyer joke:
Have you heard terrorists have seized a cruise ship with an ABA convention aboard? They are threatening to release one per hour unless we give into their demands.
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ranndumb says:
WURSPH, I just want to say thanks for your posts. I always enjoy them very much and love the glimpses into the Capitol of yesteryear. They remind me of Jim Warren’s blog (Billy Clyde’s Political Hot Tub blog). So, when does your blog start?
Best 2013 wishes everyone!
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WURSPH Reply:
December 26th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Thanks a lot. I certainly appreciate the kind words, deserved or not.
I have thought of a blog, but I just do not think there is enough of an audience to make it worthwhile. Instead, I have a group of about 80 folks (some by choice, some by draft) to whom I send what I call my “diatribes”. Some are about the “good ole days” around the Capitol; others are comments on current events; and a few are just weird wanderings of my mind. (PB is one of this tortured group.)
The quality of most of what I produce can be inferred by what WURSPH stands for—Washed-up Second Rate Political Hack…Since William Safire in his Dictionary of American Politics (1st edition) defines a political hack as being “second rate”…what does that make a second rate political hack?
By the way, to those of you who may have qualms about it….It is okay not to believe in Santa any more….after all, according to our dearly defeated Mitt, at least 47% of us have a much bigger, better giver of gifts taking care of us….the Federal Government….And we don’t have to be good to get goodies from it….or even leave out cookies and milk….It sure sounds like a better deal to me any way
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WURSPH says:
Of course, Paul would probably prefer it if I set up my own blog…That would help keep my stuff off his…and leave more space for the rest of you….
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anon Reply:
December 27th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
So wouldn’t it be WUSRPH?
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WUSRPH Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 11:55 am
Yep it should be…somehow PB’s name box had both, with the R first first…I should have noticed it…
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Santas Divorce Lawyer says:
Here’s hoping that Burka and all his readers had a happy festivus and have a joyous new year!
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Vote Vermin Supreme! says:
From the Houston Chronicle — a few more laughs at the expense of our joke of a governor — the top political story of 2012:
1. Rick Perry’s presidential bellyflop.
The Texas governor, the onetime GOP presidential frontrunner, didn’t even make it out of January. He dropped out of the race after exactly one caucus and one primary. How bad was Perry’s campaign? A Democratic presidential candidate named Vermin Supreme got a higher percentage of the vote in the New Hampshire primary.
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JohnBernardBooks says:
liberals will have a lot to celebrate this New Year’s Eve as the democrats prepare to saddle us with a massive economy killing tax increase, ensuring Bunyanesque government waste in the coming decades.
Just how dumb are democrat voters?
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Anonymous Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
hahahaha! How clever JBB! You are so funny!
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
you thought I was trying to be funny?…wow
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Anonymous Reply:
December 30th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
And you are so funny here as well! Hahahahahahahaha. You are a GENIUS! (Notice how I put it in all caps to emphasize my point).
anon Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
Repubs can’t even pass their own “Plan B” — how pathetic is that? They can’t even agree amongst themselves. They’re like a circular firing squad.
D’s passed a plan out of the Senate months ago. Sits in the House collecting dust while Repugs play games.
When do the adults show up?
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Anonymous Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Clinton’s tax increase certainly did not kill the economy. It seems to me that the fact we were paying for the government we wanted gave confidence to the people who drive the economy.
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Vote Vermin Supreme! Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 6:40 pm
Repubs would put partisanship over what’s best for country, petulantly driving us off the cliff knowing it will throw us into recession. They don’t care — they’ll just blame Obama.
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Tom says:
Looks like the Dew could use another trip from Santa to make up for the $600,000 or so missing from his campaign funds.
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Anonymous Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 11:43 am
On the other hand, his campaign manager’s family and friends must of gotten some damn nice Christmas presents. Or some bank in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands should have been giving Barfield a nice holiday gift for opening his account.
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WUSRPH Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
I guess the campaign “Treasurer” never bothered to check behind the surface of the reports he/she signed. Wonder why you have one if they are not going to do their job….But it is hard to see how someone did not notice that the official reports said there was $700,000 in the account when the actual amount was $7,000. Of course, The Dew has so much money that the value of $700,000 to him may be what it would be for $7,000 for the rest of us.
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Pat Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
‘Twas the night before Christmas,
And around sleuthed a louse;
Ken Barfield was stealing,
‘Cuz the Dew can’t manage his house.
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anon says:
It’s past time for the Dew to saddle up and ride off into the sunset, let us get back to running our state. He’s way beyond his capabilities. His primary concern seems to be the merits of the spread vs. the point collar on his custom-made shirts, or the inch vs. the inch-and-a-quarter cuff on his tailored suits. Don’t even get him started on the double or single vent on the jacket, or how European fabrics are far superior to Asian. Dainty, Dandy Dewhurst. His legacy? Ask his tailor.
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Vote Vermin Supreme! says:
Says something when even your “friends” think you’re such a dolt that you won’t catch 3/4 million in missing cash.
No wonder Perry and Patrick play him like a cheap guitar on a regular basis.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 3:56 pm
so Dewhurst is so dumb democrats cannot beat him?
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Anonymous Reply:
December 30th, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Hahahahahaha! I think I was laughing so hard milk came out of my nose! So funny. Stop.
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JohnBernardBooks Reply:
December 30th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
that’snot milk
Anonymous Reply:
December 30th, 2012 at 9:10 pm
You are soooo right. Genius!
Vote Vermin Supreme! says:
Yep, you and I both know all it takes for a statewide office in Texas is to make it through the Rupug primary.
C’mon, JBB, you smarter than that.
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The Mustache That Dare Not Speak Its Name says:
Given the mishigas that seems to be swirling around Lt. Gov. Dewhurst’s campaign finances right now, it is time to share one of The Mustache’s rules of living: Never trust a man who calls himself Buddy.
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WUSRPH says:
Or, as an old Democratic Texas House member whose father was a high Methodist official, once told me:
Never trust a man who carries his bible in public….
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Vote Vermin Supreme! says:
So has Barfield surfaced? Statesman is reporting that lawyers for Barfield’s debtors told Dewhurst of his financial shenanigans. Apparently, the Dew paid no heed.
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WUSRPH says:
Here is to a good year to one and all, including JBB and even the banned one with his conspiracies. I only hope that next year ends with all of us alive, reasonably comfortable and with a dollar or two in the bank….It would have been nice to end this one with a buck or two…but you cannot have everything.
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