Houston Democrats

... for a couple of truly amazing things. Among them:

-- with Texas now 50th in the nation in levels of mercury in the state's water, eleven states' attorneys general have filed suit on the EPA to attempt to compel the federal agency to enforce the existing laws against the polluters (which in Texas are primarily the coal-burning power plants belonging to Reliant, TXU and others). Texas, and Greg Abbott, is NOT one of the eleven. This is an abdication of one of his duties:

The attorney general has regulatory or punitive civil powers over corporations and must protect charitable trusts through court action. Taxation and property are two functional areas significant to the work of the attorney general; the attorney general sues for recovery of taxes owed the state of Texas and protects the public interest with respect to abandoned property that escheats to the state. The attorney general acts against persons or corporations violating the environmental-protection laws of Texas or illegally extracting natural resources. The office also enforces the state's antitrust laws and prosecutes persons who mishandle state funds.

-- Abbott has found time, however, to fly to Washington DC and appear before the Supreme Court in the case involving the Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the state Capitol. (A doughnut if you can guess which side he argued.)

-- and he has also managed to file a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of the state of Georgia's attempts to introduce creationist revisions to the science textbooks of that state's public schools.

Abbott, a supporter of the Harris County Christian Coalition, has been beholden to the Religious Right (or the "Unreligious Wrong", as Van Os prefers to say) for a long time.

===================

And tonight the Campaign for a National Majority will continue its Texas tour with a meeting at the home of Kathy Dreyfus and Jim Grotta, 4555 Elm Street in Bellaire, at 7 pm. Robert Jara of the Texas Democratic Party will have an update on the state's 2006 contests.