Thank God that the eyes of Texas were upon the Senate chambers last night.

I need to be honest and tell you that it’s 9:30 am and I just rolled my sweet patootie outta bed.  I’m sitting here in my jammies with coffee – no breakfast yet because I ate cereal at 4:00 this morning and then went to bed.

Here’s the bottom line.  The vote was after the midnight deadline and does not count.  The filibuster won.  And there’s a great story of intrigue behind it, as there always is in Texas politics.

Now, there are several things I want to explain to you people from foreign states.

First, the good stuff — I do not want to take anything away from Wendy Davis.  She is amazing and should be the next Governor of Texas.  Facebook agrees.  But, Senator Leticia Van de Putte’s call to action for Texas women broke the camel’s back.  Senator Royce West and Senator Kirk Watson did an amazing parliamentary job to keep the clock rolling.

Most amazing was the people’s filibuster.  The crowd filling the gallery, the hallways, and the rotunda of the Texas Capitol was breathtaking and I’ve never seen anything like it.  The last 15 minutes of the filibuster was done by the gallery, risking jail and a couple of unruly DPS officers.  The roar was amazing.

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Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, who lost the senate primary to Ted Cruz and has been determined ever since to get to the right of Cruz, made the largest big ugly butt of himself last night and probably needs to go both to hell and jail.

David Dewhurst

Blaming the “unruly mob” (which is his description of Texas women), Dewhurst first said the vote on SB5 was taken at 11:59 pm.  However, the computerize time stamp said 12:02 am.  How do you resolve that?  Well, Darlin’, you simply change the time stamp to say what you want it to say.  In other words, you commit the felony offense of tampering with a government document.  That is what Dewhurst did.

Now conveniently, Governor Rick Perry vetoed funding for the public integrity unit of the Travis County DA’s office earlier this month, so Dewhurst knew full well that he couldn’t be prosecuted for this felony.  It’s like they made bank robbery legal and expected Republicans not to rob banks because it’s the morally wrong thing to do.  Super DeLux Brand Christians have to have rules in order to behave because they have no damn morals.

So, when photographic evidence was produce that Dewhurst has no morals, a quick back room private caucus was held of the Texas senate.  I have no way of knowing, of course, what happened in that back room but I’ll bet Senator Dan Patrick and David Dewhurst were wishing they had worn Depends.

If Governor Perry does, indeed, call a special session to pass SB5, all hell will break loose.  Click the little one to see the big one.

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I’ve got a deadline over at Crooks and Liars today about the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott demanding voter ID two hours after the Supreme Court rulings yesterday so I’m outta here to get that done.

But, you know what, the only voter fraud I’ve seen in Texas was in the Texas senate last night and Gregg Abbott was nowhere to be found.

I’ll see ya this afternoon to talk about the great news from the Supremes today.

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Meanwhile, thank you people from foreign states for also being the Eyes of Texas.

Okay here’s the deal, Bubba and I had a reception at our house tonight for the three young Battleground Texas fellows.   We raised a little money to help them pay for gas and got them some contacts to get to know the activists in the county.  I think my county hit the Battleground Texas lottery.  We have three great kids – Elizabeth, Brianna, and Larry.  Adrienne Bell, the damn near perfect Battleground Texas  organizer for 7 counties, including mine, also came and explained their plans.

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The entire time, we had one ear – and a good reporter, thank you Glen Maxey – tuned to Wendy Davis’s filibuster on the Texas Senate floor.  Last I heard (about 9:00) there were 1,000 people waiting to get into the senate chambers.

The President tweeted that something special is happening in Texas.

No shoot, Sherlock!

Senator Davis has two points of order (strikes) against her.  One for discussing Roe v. Wade, which the Republicans said was not “germane” to women’s  reproductive rights.  The second was for Senator Rodney Ellis actually touching her very briefly to adjust her back brace.  Three strikes and she’s out.  That, apparently, is their plan.

If they do, 1,000 Texans in Austin and thousands more at home are ready to stand their ground.   Bubba just told me that 36,000 people are watching the filibuster on You Tube.

This is Wendy at 9:30 pm, with 2 and half hours to go.  She can have no water, no bathroom breaks, no food, no leaning on the podium, no sitting.  She’s gonna make it.

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I’m staying up.  I’m standing with Wendy.

With 2 hours to go, Lt Gov David Dewhurt ruled that sonograms have nothing to do with reproductive rights.  That’s 3 strikes.  He says it is over.  Shouts of Let Her Speak from the gallery.  The DPS is removing people from the gallery.

Senator Kirk Watson appeals the decision of the chair.  I think he’s hoping to keep the appeal going for 2 hours.

The parliamentary debate continues at 10:30.  Lt Gov Dewhurst has left the chamber.  I just heard that 103,000 are watching on You Tube.  Senator Wendy Davis is still standing.

54 minutes left with the microphones off and all manner of cahooting going on.

Senator Leticia Van de Putte is everybody’s other hero tonight.  There’s 3000 people in the rotunda yelling even louder.   Republicans would be fools to railroad this now.

I am damn proud to be a Texas woman tonight! The citizens filibuster finished the job.

Nobody seems to know what is going on.  My state rep just called and fears that the GOP snuck it through.  There has been some wrestling in the gallery with DPS officers.

“WHO WOULD HAVE EVER DREAMED THAT THE AMERICAN SPRING WOULD HAVE STARTED IN TEXAS?” Margot Nielsen

I’ll tell you know what happened when I know.  It’s 12:30 and nobody seems to know what happened.

As we wait to find out what happened, some of you have asked me where to send money.  Contributions both small and large can be made here where I can personally promise you it will be spent wisely.

Okay, it all boils down to when did the vote happen.  Republicans say 11:59 and Democrats (and everybody watching) sat 12:02.  There will be a court battle.

Texas Congressvarmint Louie Gohmert is talking about sex today.  That rarely even makes the news because Louie finds a way to talk about sparkin’ almost every day.

He was on the electric radio talking about sex education and said that we don’t need it because kids will find out about it all on their own.

You know, you combine physics with biology and some hydraulics and Newton’s rarely talked about 14th law and you have some backseat hoochy koochie just like Adam and Eve figured it out.

… mankind has existed for a pretty long time without anyone ever having to give a sex-ed lesson to anybody. And now we feel like, oh gosh, people are too stupid to unless we force them to sit and listen to instructions. It’s just incredible.

Yep, you need to learn about s-e-x out behind the barn like Louie did.  That, of course, is where Louie also learned about everything else.

But you cannot have an ice cream sex-sundae without a cherry on top, so Louie found a way to weave in communist Russia to sex education.

And it reminds me so much of the summer that I was an exchange student in the Soviet Union back in the Seventies and I was shocked when they were saying ‘no, the children don’t belong to parents, they belong to the state.’ And if any parent said anything in front of their children negative about the wonderful Soviet Union, then we will take their children away and give them to somebody more deserving. And I just thought how horribly shocking that was, that of course parents were the ones who love the children, not the state. And I thought thank God that we don’t have that in our country.

Could somebody please translate that into English for me?

You know that’s the thing about Louie.  You always know which way his pickle is gonna squirt – sex and Soviets.  He’ll work that into everything.

He also claims that he heard a woman on MSNBC say, “hey, children belong to the state”.   No, actually, Louie, that was Uncle Si.

Thanks to Warner and Frank for the heads up.

Those sumbitches gutted the Voting Rights Act.  I do not care what shiny face anybody tries to put on it, the opinion is an egg-suckin’ dog.

They struck down the map of which jurisdictions were covered because of past discrimination.  Now they are going to let congress decide which, if any, jurisdictions might discriminate.  Oh yeah, like congress can agree on lunch time.

The opinion says that racial discrimination is over.  You know, because we haven’t seen any racism at all since Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of Damn America.

Clarence Thomas says he not only would do away with Section 4, he thinks Section 5 is also unconstitutional.  That man is a great disturbance in the force.  I swear he is.

I know we have a bunch of lawyers here, so please feel free to correct me if you have a better spin on this than a dirty ole egg sucking dog.

UPDATE:  Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is positively drooling over the Supreme Court decision.  The jerk can hardly wait to stop citizens from voting.

UPDATE:  11:4o Texas Time/ Texas Senator Wendy Davis has started her filibuster.  You can watch here:  http://www.texastribune.org/

Texas Senator Wendy Davis will need your stories to fill up all those hours she has to stand and filibuster.

Tell Wendy why you believe women’s reproductive rights are important to us all.  Write your story, and click here to send it to her.

I will post right here when she begins and a link where you can watch it live.

Meanwhile, from Colorado, my friend and fellow State Democratic Executive Committee member Vickie Vogel (holding the sign), a true Texas except for the summers she spends in Colorado, stands with Wendy.

Vickie Vogel rounding up Democrats in Colorado!

Okay, guys, a customer who calls herself shy and doesn’t post here has an electric light idea.

Senator Wendy Davis of Texas will filibuster the Texas Senate tomorrow for women’s reproductive rights.  Cecil Richards is on her way to Austin to have a rally.  This is battleground for warrior women.

I know what we can do – at home and in the gallery – now that the customer told me.

I would not be surprised if those in gallery who can, remain standing with Senator Wendy Davis as she filibusters tomorrow. I plan to turn my chairs upside down, or put pots and pans and books on them and on the couches. I don’t plan to sit while she filibusters, so I know what she is enduring. I will work at my desk standing up. I will take my bathroom breaks. .

Please stand with Wendy.  And if you want to send a selfie or have a friend to take a picture, stand with Wendy and I’ll post it here.  Stand in the gallery of the Senate, move your computer to the drainboard and stand while web surfing, or stand watching teevee.

Just stand, dammit.  Everywhere in America, Stand with Wendy.