Nate Silver of five-thirty-eight has a column regarding Texas. Looking at the map, I was delighted to see that we were not cherry red in Williamson County, but something close to Windsor Rose.

Windsor Rose is the color of nail polish my grandmother wore from the day of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation until her death. I regard this as a sign that we can move this county to something approaching Prairie Primrose, Neutral, or even Baby Blue. Texans, check your county! If we can all help move our counties one notch to the left, we might eventually see Godot, also known as GO Democrats Of Texas!

Texas Ellen

Friday night, the Williamson County Democratic Party opened it’s headquarters in Georgetown, Texas. Good location on South Austin Avenue (1915 S. Austin, Suite 111, GTN, TX) Stocked with lots of yard signs, bumper stickers, buttons, etc. Y’all come by if you are in the neighborhood. Williamson County’s version of the Silver Dems, the Sun City Democrats, were out in force and enthusiasm.

We had a nice big crowd that had to spill out into the parking lot, we had speeches from an outstanding group of candidates, and the evening was topped off with our candidate for US Senate, Paul Sadler. Paul would make us proud as a US Senator: he has a amiable manner and a steel trap mind. Three of our delegates to the national convention also reported on their experiences and just could not quit smiling.

What’s up in your neck of the woods?

Love from Texas Ellen

Sam

As this campaign goes on I am tempted to lose more and more of my religion. Does that mean I’ll darken the door of the local church/synagogue/mosque less? Well that ship sailed for me a long time ago. I learned that I can be spiritual without being religious; that I have every right to practice my personal beliefs as long as they don’t affect others in a negative way. If you, on the other hand, choose to worship at one of these institutions, more power to you; just be sure to leave me at least one glazed doughnut at Shipleys on Sunday morning.

That brings us to today’s sermon which will be presented by the Reverend Michael Stipe of REM fame . REM’s first single, Losing My Religion, written by Stipe, came out over 20 years ago. It’s a song about unrequited love, of seeking for something that isn’t really there (not unlike Clint Eastwood having a conversation with an empty chair). Losing my religion, however, has nothing to do with belief; it’s a southern term referring to losing one’s temper or civility. Stipe refers to the song as “a classic obsession pop song.” The video is marvelous.

This last week Fox and Friends played Losing My Religion as theme music when they covered the Democratic National Convention, in particular during a report about Democrats deciding whether or not to include the word “God” in their platform. REM protested the misuse of their song with Stipe stating, “We have little or no respect for their puff adder brand of reportage. Our music does not belong there.” Gotta admit, Michael still knows how to turn a phrase. Of course “Fair and Balanced” in their usual bluster refused to honor the band’s request not wanting to pass on any chance to smear the DNC. For more about Stipe and his beliefs look here.

Yesterday REM filed a ‘cease-and-desist’ order against FOX to prevent further misuse of their music. This follows a long list of groups who have tried to keep their music from being associated with hatred and bigotry. These include: Twisted Sister, Jackson Browne, Van Halen, Heart, John Mellancamp, and Rage Against the Machine (“Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello lit into Ryan, writing that ‘the only thing [Ryan] is not raging against is the privileged elite he’s groveling in front of for campaign contributions.’”). Thankfully for the GOP they’ve still got music icons Ted Nugent and Hank Williams Lesser on their side.

So yes, I’m losing my religion. I’m tired of those who think using the word “God” over and over in their platform absolves them from acting like they actually believe in He/She/It or in any form of natural law. I’m losing my religion over lies and attempts by the looters and polluters who are trying to buy this campaign for Romney. I’m losing my religion for those who change “Blessed are the poor” into “Blessed are the job creators”
I hope you’re losing your religion too, we’ve got a lot of work to do. 

You know how Hansel and Gretel left cookie crumbs to find their way home? Well, Bubba and I left barbeque rib bones.

We are eating our way back to Texas.

I have a story for you. Yesterday we spent two hours roaming backwoods Tennessee looking for two wineries. I drink wine but Bubba drinks sweet tea. But he’s a sweet man and lets me stop at wineries.

We were so deep in the backwoods that we had no cell phone reception. Hell, Onstar couldn’t even find these little towns. The first winery was run by two women and it was real cute but
wine was secondary to bedazzled tee shirts.

We start looking for the second one and just about the time we started hearing banjo music we find it. It was in some guy’s garage.

A guy who put the gerrrr in grizzled came out of his house. There were rocks in his yard younger than he was. Big guy. Callused hands. Lotsa gray hair.

The winery was in his his garage and he came down on the non decorating side of HGTV. Vern Yip would have cried.

He gave me sips of something he labeled Rotgut. It was on the sweet side but very drinkable with spicy food. I tried a couple other ones and was impressed with some very decent $12 wine made by a guy in overalls and a gimme hat.

He chatted up Bubba and me asking where we were from and hardily approving of Texas. Bubba, who never comes down on the safe side of interpersonal relationships, spurts out that we are returning from the Democratic National Convention.

Holy crap.

Doesn’t Bubba know where the hell he is? Is he goofy on sweet tea and rotgut fumes?

The owner slams his hand down on the counter with such force that I suddenly understood why there were no pictures hanging on the wall. I head for the door because I do not mess with snakes, alligators, and grizzled old men.

He then roars, “Goddam it, son, I want to shake you hand! That sumbitch Romney scares the crap outta me.”

I thought he was gonna hug Bubba. And probably break him.

We then stood stunned as he cussed Republicans right, left, and sideways. We were treated to a sparkling 15 minute rant about Republicans. He loves Bill Clinton, thinks people who don’t like Obama are racists, and wants Hillary to run in 4 years because she’s tough.

Bubba went out to the car and got him a rally sign from the convention. He loved it and headed to show it to “the wife.”

As we left, he shouted at us that he likes Texas okay but those Bushes are sumbitches.

I left with six bottles of decent wine and a smile on my face.

Just thought you’d want to know.

I’m spending the night in Tennessee tonight and tomorrow night I’ll spend the night on the other side of Tennessee.

However, I want to show you something. Look right here.. This is the most perfect set of pictures from the convention that I’ve seen.

Picture # 20 and # 21 are of the Texas delegation. The “old man” is Glen Maxey, who occasionally posts here and is one of my most favorite Texas Democrats. Glen was our delegation goat herder. As the story explains, every email we got from Glen said, “No freekin’ big hats.”

So, a delegate from Houston named Mary Luckey who is totally adorable made these little hats for everyone.

Here’s mine.

Mary’s hats got national attention and Glen Maxey got called old. That, in my book, is a perfect day.

And, those of you who went to all the trouble to like Juanita Jean on Facebook now understand why I could not post from the convention floor after about 5:00. Every freekin body was attached to their cell phones and the Internet tubes got clogged up.

Juanita’s homework assignment.

There will be a test