I hate to break it to y'all, but a lot of folks in Fort Bend County actually believe the "liberals are picking on our hero because he's so good" crock o' whatever. To get a taste of suburban Houston politics through a jaded eye, check out www.brazosriver.com .

here in Texas, we think all y'all talk funny anyway.

The officers of a corporation have a fiduciary obligation to run it in such a way as to operate to the shareholders' benefit. While clean, renewable power is certainly not universal, it also already makes some degree of economic sense, even at its current state of development. Google is clearly taking a longer view than the "what's good this quarter" that many outfits seem to have (see: Wow! We're making a killing off these giant SUVs right now! Let's make more!). Since by all accounts Google uses gobs of electricity, investigating this alternative is actually the responsible course of action and not just some feel good flyer at an idealized perfect world.

Our precinct caucuses (official title: "Precinct Convention") are only the first step. Although one may simply sign in with a preference and then leave, the precinct convention elects delegates to each county's convention, in proportion to each candidate's strength. In a few weeks, the county conventions will then elect delegates to the State convention. Only when the State convention occurs are the "caucus" delegates to the National convention chosen.

BTW, I can see how the time zone confusion can come up, since El Paso is actually closer to the Pacific Ocean than it is to the Gulf of Mexico.

Some precinct conventions didn't start until after 10 pm (at least in the Houston area) because everyone in line to vote in the primary at 7 had to get finished. Surprise, surprise - many precincts didn't have enough voting machines. In contrast, the support in the precinct conventions is registered by an indication on the sign in sheet, which of course has to be tallied by hand.

On March 29, the delegates from the 8000 or so precinct conventions will assemble in 31 state Senate district conventions. However, the actual "caucus" delegates won't really be selected until the State convention in April. The projections I've seen, though, have Obama eventually taking about a 3 or 4 delegate lead among those selected by the voters one way or another.

It brings to mind the popular boot kickin' line dance during which the participants enthusically give a two syllable answer to the question "stepped in what?"

That big red area near Big Bend in Texas - that's mostly Crockett County (county seat and only town: Ozona), with a land area greater than Delaware and about 4,000 hardy souls at the last census. It also has Interstate 10 running through it with all those trucks bringing the goods of China east. So yeah, I guess the per capita emissions would be a bit big.

After all, the current mantra of "Don't talk to them!!! Don't even think of talking to them!!!" is about the same level of diplomacy most frequently seen among junior high students.

On a recent flight, the incessantly yappy small dog beneath a first class passenger's seat was WAAAAAY more annoying than the infant in back who cried a bit during climbout and descent. Well monitored kids can be just fine, and better to sit next to than someone who is, shall we say, large - you get more elbow room, if nothing else.

Most of us have some "ism" we could whine about if we so choose. I remember both separate water fountains and June Cleaver. Neither Sen. Clinton nor Sen. Obama was my first choice. And before them, and between them, I made my choice not because of genitals or skin color, but because of issues, because of what I perceived as what the overall direction would be, and because of those they chose to advise them. I happily and repeatedly voted for Ann Richards and Kathy Whitmire (one of Houston's longest serving mayors, even if she did look like Dustin Hoffman in drag), and any number of women running for city council, the county commissioners court, and judge. My mother is a woman, and God forbid you cross her.

I hung around a middle school auditorium until nearly midnight, and then stumbled out of bed on a Saturday earlier than I usually get up for work to attend a state senate convention that had to be moved to accommodate the number of people who showed up and went way past midnight, all for the same reason that I went to a caucus sixteen years ago (and none in between) for then-Governor Clinton - the probably Panglossian hope that some sort of change can be effected. And yes, that came in the form of a guy who's only been four years in the Senate, just like back then it was from the governor of a state that has fewer people than the county I live in.

Tenacity is one thing, but hanging on to a campaign like a Monty Python plague victim is something else.

And by the way, Obama won Texas, 99 - 94 among pledged delegates (at last count, it's still not official, and they're still playing around with the supers at the state convention).

TX22 is Tom DeLay's old district, and typically votes somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun. It's a place where W04 stickers are still seen proudly smacked on the back of new SUVs. The current congressman from that district got shoved out of his previous seat as a result of the midterm redistricting DeLay pushed through. In the last election ran against a very crowded R field filled with less than stellar (to put it mildly) candidates, in a confused mess that had the Rs running as write ins for the remaining few weeks of Hot Tub Tom's term. To a lot of local observers, TX22 would ordinarily be an R pickup only in the "hi sailor" sense of the word.