IN TEXAS IT'S THE GOP WAY OR THE HIGHWAY
Texas Democrats on the run again

This time it's the state senate:

Eleven Democratic state senators got the jump on Gov. Rick Perry Monday, bolting from the state Capitol and flying to Albuquerque, N.M., shortly before the governor ordered a second special legislative session on congressional redistricting.

The Republicans are apparently going to keep trying until they get the result that they want. Clearly, these are strong-arm tactics, utterly scornful of democracy. What's at stake here? Read on:

Van de Putte, chair of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said the dissidents were prepared to remain in Albuquerque for the duration of the new, 30-day session because the redistricting effort threatened minority voting rights.

"When the congressional districts of those Democrats targeted by Republicans are eliminated, over 1.4 million minority Texans will have no advocates because their homes will be drawn into districts in which they will have no voice in choosing their member of Congress," she said.

As if squeezing out minority voters wasn't bad enough, the Republicans are willing to cheat in order to win:

Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said the Democrats had no choice but to flee since Dewhurst already had announced that during a second special session he would bypass a traditional Senate rule requiring a two-thirds vote to debate legislation.

That two-thirds requirement had allowed Senate Democrats to block redistricting during the first special session, which was to have automatically ended today but was adjourned on Monday.

And the Republican spin is already on:

Perry, who ordered the new session to convene less than two hours after the Democrats had fled, accused the missing senators of killing other legislation that could have generated an additional $800 million for health and human services and other state needs.

Bullshit. This is all about increasing GOP numbers in the US House of Representatives--that's why they're being so intense about it; the GOP is never maniacal about health and human services--Perry's spin on this is pretty laughable, but so are the one-liners coming from his buddies in the White House these days. It's even funnier if you consider the fact that redistricting would decrease minority voting strength: they would screw minorities on the one hand but help minorities on the other.

Yeah, right.

One wonders if these hard core political strategies are a taste of what is to come at the national level. After all, at this point, everyone knows that former bug man and US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has his hands all over this redistricting scheme. It's even more frightening when you factor in the GOP takover of the most powerful political force in Washington, the lobbyists--pretty soon, it won't matter what the Democrats think or say if things keep going the way they're going now.

At any rate, this is the reality now in Texas, and will be for the foreseeable future:

There are 29 more days remaining in this new special session, however, and Perry can call an unlimited number of special sessions, if he chooses, after this one.

God, this is getting pretty creepy.

For the entire article, click here.

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