StoutDemBlog

We are gearing up for the 2008 4th of July parades and festivals and we have a lot of ground to cover. We want to make sure that Democrats are represented all over the County. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Below are events taking place all over Dallas County. If you or members of your Democratic Club can help out at any of these parades and/or festivals, please let me know.

--Renee Hartley, Office Manager, Dallas County Democratic Party 214-821-8331 or email to renee AT dallasdemocrats DOT org.

ALL EVENTS TAKE PLACE ON FRIDAY, JULY 4, 2008.

Irving: Parade
Theme: Celebrating American Traditions
DETAILS:
5:30 AM - Parade Gates Open
7:30 AM - All entries required to be in place
7:30 to 8:30 AM - Parade Judging
8:45 AM - Awards distributed
9:00 AM - Parade begins
Staging area: Irving Civic Center 825 West Irving Blvd., Irving, TX 75060 MAP
Click HERE for parade route.

Duncanville: Parade
Theme: "City of Champions - Past & Future"
Parade Line up: 7:00 AM
Staging area: Central Elementary School, 302 East Freeman Duncanville, Texas 75116 MAP
**NOTE** Throwing items (including candy) and passing out literature, is not allowed.

Park Cities: Parade
Parade line up: 7:30 AM
Staging area: Euclid Ave. near Highland Park Town Hall, 4700 Drexel Drive, Texas 75205 MAP
**NOTE** Dallas County Young Democrats will be participating in this parade.

Lake Highlands: Parade and Festival
Parade Line up: 9:30 AM
Staging area: Lakewood United Methodist Church 2443 Abrams, Dallas TX 75214 MAP
**NOTE** Lake Highlands/White Rock Democrats will have a booth after the parade.

Coppell: Parade
Theme: Spirit of Coppell
Parade Line up: 8:30 AM
Staging area: Parking lot at Sandy Lake and Samuel North East Corner MAP
**NOTE** Coppell/Valley Ranch Democrats will help in this parade.

Garland: Festival Star Spangled 4th
Set up: 6:30 - AM to 9:30 AM
Festival: 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM
Location: Firewheel Town Center, 245 Cedar Sage Dr., Garland, TX 75040 MAP
**NOTE** Click HERE for important information about parking. Event Schedule can be found HERE.

--WOW! As you can see we have a lot of ground to cover. We will have the help of Elected Officials and Candidates, but we really could use your help to make these events extra special. I look forward to hearing from you soon and thanks so much for all you do for Dallas County.

"John McSame" continues to be clueless:

John McCain: The Second Coming of Bob Dole

John McCain's Gramm Gamble Texas Observer

McCain Turns Down a Texas Fundraiser

Cindy McCain -- a "Navy wife"?

Which is why Democrats are doing well:

Poll shows Obama with a 15-point lead over McCain.

Poll shows Obama leading McCain in 3 key swing states

But Cheney and his minions may throw a tantrum until they get their way:

Kristol: Bush Might Bomb Iran If 'Obama's Going To Win'

Bomb Iran? What's to Stop Us?

Finally, a couple of news summaries:

News of the Week the Mainstream Media Forgot to Report RFK Jr.

Weekly Texas Progressive bloggers wrapup

The Texas Freedom Network just posted this revealing item: How Extreme Is the Texas Republican 2008 Platform?. The Capitol Annex blog has more at A Look At The Republican Party Of Texas Platform. It's hard to believe that adults in the 21st Century could hold such pre-Enlightenment ideas.

You can compare it to our own Texas Democratic Platform, which is at this pdf, posted, as he has the ones since 1996 by Dallas County Precinct Chair Tom Blackwell. He also reports that he has again been chosen (once again) to serve on the national Democratic Party's Platform committee for this year's Convention in Denver.

A majority thinks Obama will win

McCain Acknowledges He May Lose Arizona

Obama knows how to fight back

Fight The Smears

Things More Muslim Than Obama

McCain Sets New Record: 10 Flip-Flops in 2 Weeks

Things younger than John McCain

John McCain’s Chilling Project for America

The Republic on a Knife's Edge Gitmo and the Court

How Karl Rove played politics while people drowned

News of the Week Mainstream Media Forgot to Report RFK Jr.

Dallas Precinct Chair Tom Blackwell has posted on line some photos of Democratic Party national Chair Howard Dean's visit to Dallas last week, with DCDP Chair Darlene Ewing and others, on his site at these three pages.

It's Monday, and that means it is time for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly blog round-up. The round-up is compiled based on submissions made by member blogs. This week's compiler is Vince from Capitol Annex.

CoulldBeTrue hears Rick Perry's rally call against Mexican drug cartels hooking up with local gangs and fears coded words meaning 'Lets profile Latinos' yee haw.

Off the Kuff spent his time in Austin interviewing candidates for office. The first group of interviewees published are State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97; Wendy Davis, SD10; Robert Miklos, HD101; and Chris Turner, HD96.

refinish69 of Doing My Part For The Left gives a review of his experience herding cats at the Texas Democratic Convention and a podcast version as well.

The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why we are getting yet another TX Secretary of State, as Phil Wilson is set to resign after only one year on the job.

PDiddie had some scenes from the Texas GOP convention posted at Brains and Eggs.

With four electric companies folding up shop over the last several weeks, it is going to be a difficult summer for Texas consumers. The failures underscore just how screwed up the retail utility business is in Texas. One commentator has called it a game of Russian Roulette, and so it is....

In a much-anticipated mega-post on transportation issues, McBlogger tells us that lawmakers are "doing it wrong" when it comes to transportation funding.

Vince at Capitol Annex tears apart the Republican argument for getting rid of property taxes and replacing them with a sales tax for funding public schools, which this week was promoted by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.

CHANGING DALLAS, CHANGING AMERICA

Get involved with the 2008 Dallas County Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign!

Come Parading This Saturday In DeSoto:

This Saturday our 2008 incumbents and candidates will be part of the Best Southwest Juneteenth Parade and Fesitval in DeSoto. We invite you to come be in the parade with the candidates and pass out our new "Changing Dallas, Changing America" slate cards. Wear your Democratic gear.

WHEN: 1:45 PM, SATURDAY JUNE 14

WHAT: Best Southwest Juneteenth Parade with 2008 Dallas Democratic Candidates

WHERE:

If you plan to attend, please reply by email to service AT democracytoolbox DOT com.

Help At Our Booth At Saturday's Festival:



Help At Our Booth At Thursday's Celebration:

This Thursday, June 19, work the Dallas County Democratic Party's booth with our 2008 candidates at the MLK Center Juneteenth Celebration, from 1 to 6 PM, at the Martin Luther King Community Center, 2922 MLK Blvd., Dallas. Please email Jeff Dalton to service AT democracytoolbox DOT com or call 214-544-0381 if you want to volunteer. Also this Saturday, June 14, help work the Dallas County Democratic Party's booth with our 2008 candidates at the Best Southwest Festival at Mosely Park, 1300 Honor Drive in Desoto, from 4 to 10 PM. Please email Jeff Dalton to service AT democracytoolbox DOT com or call 214-544-0381 if you want to volunteer. Parade line up is at old Albertson's parking lot on NW Corner of Pleasant Run and Polk St in DeSoto. Look for a white Jeep with banners on it for Judge Raggio, Ken Molberg, Eric Moye and Judge Creuzot, as well as Judge David Hanschen's vintage Karmann Ghia with a big "Hanschen" banner on it. The parade will terminate in Mosely Park. If you need help finding us at the parade line up, call 214-385-8691.

Now some words about our opponent:
McCain Vows to Campaign in All Thirteen Colonies.

Showing that confusion may be only slightly exaggerated is this flip-flopping:
McCain DID deliver line tweaking press.

This kind of doddering seems to scare the Repubs:
GOP Insiders Worry About McCain's Chances.

Especially with our candidate leaving no state behind:
Obama Maps a Nationwide Push in GOP Strongholds.

And the polls show the Repubs do need to worry:
Gallup Daily: Obama Takes Lead Over McCain, 48% to 42%.

The Texas Democratic Party has put lots of videos on line, including talks by our U.S. Senate candidate Rick Noriega, former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, and Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia from Friday evening. They've also posted some great videos showed to the delegates, including By The Numbers (about Democratic growth in Texas), Counted (about voting rights and the Republican efforts to block them), moving tributes to Lady Bird Johnson and to Governor Ann Richards. See their whole set (it also has some from two years ago) starting at this page. The Austin Chronicle has a photo gallery from the event at this page.

Best live-blogger at this convention was Vince of Capitol Annex. Burnt Orange Report also had some useful obsevations. Scroll down and back into time on these sites to see their posts. Some others of note this year (besides those mentioned in the weekly TPA roundup) were: Panhandle Truth Squad, Mean Rachel, Bay Area Houston, and Musings. [I didn't get to do any live-blogging at all due to laptop failure. I did take notes and will link to a summary post next week.]

Dallas Precinct Chair (and former national Platform Committee member) Tom Blackwell has posted the 2008 Platform on his web site as a pdf at this page. The Texas Democratic Party has posted a list of delegates and alternates at this page; unfortunately, they are not all in order (for instance, SD 23's female Clinton delegate, Ann Hubener, is not listed together with the others from her district). If you are one of the lucky winners, please make sure they have your name.

Finally, for future events, you might want to save this State Democratic Convention Survival Guide, Part 1. [There was no Part 2, perhaps understandably.]

State Representative Allen Vaught, along with his wife Donna and two-year old son Jonathan, welcomed the birth of Morgan Danielle Vaught at 6:35 pm on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan weighs 7 pounds and is 18 and 3/4 inches long. Representative Vaught remarked, "We are so thrilled to welcome Morgan into our family and Jonathan is excited to be a big brother." Both mother and daughter are doing well.

Governor Howard Dean, the Democratic Party national Chairman, is coming to Dallas this Wednesday. If you are a local elected official or candidate, he would like to meet the grassroots Democrats like you. He will be at the CWA Building at 1408 N. Washington this Wednesday from 5 PM until 6 PM. If you can be there please RSVP to 214-821-8331 or email to exec AT dallasdemocrats DOT org.

Still woozy from the Bloggers Caucus? Well, there's nothing like a little hair of the blog to cure what ails you. Click on to read the Texas Progressive Alliance roundup for the week.

BossKitty at BlueBloggin tell us about the Government Accountability Office's (GOA) revealing report to Congress on how tax preparers work in cooperation with banks to advance refunds which can greatly reduce your tax refund check in Refund Anticipation Loans, Rapid Refunds, Sleazy Tax Preparers.

The live-blog of the contest for the state chair of the Texas Democratic Party was done by PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.

Off the Kuff conducted an interview with the Communications Director of the American Wind Energy Association on the state of wind energy in Texas and America today.

Kit of WhosPlayin thinks much of mainstream media coverage of late - especially with regard to the Democratic nomination is meant to distract us from the more important issues like Iraq, health care costs, and the mortgage market melt down.

Texas Kaos has extensive liveblogging and video from the Texas State Democratic Convention this weekend. Highlights include Chelsea Clinton's Two Messages for Texas Democrats, Sam Houston Makes The Case for Caring About the Judicial Races, and Senator Mario Gallegos Addressing the State Convention a little more than a year after he and the Texas Senate Dem Caucus held off David Dewhirst's grab for your voting rights.

McBlogger's Lovelie99 takes a look at a culinary craze that is sweeping the nation. And finds it, frankly, pretty gross.

A Clinton delegate received this by email and passed it on to me. I know no more than is shown here. Does he mean tonight (Thursday)?

The Texas Cloverleaf has helpfully listed parties they've heard of so far for this week's Austin State Democratic Convention. I don't know if it will be updated over time, but the link is at this page. If not, such events are usually posted on walls etc. As of right now, here's what they show: