My wife and I got back a while ago from a night of bowling with two friends.  Nothing spectacular happened, except for the fact that I bowled two 147s in a row.  And my wife, Alex, bowled over a hundred in her first game--ever.  That was pretty cool, but the most striking aspect of the night happened several hours earlier at the Black Finn restaurant in Addison, a north Dallas, Texas suburb.

The city of Dallas is on the verge of losing one of its valued citizens through "Extraordinary Rendition" to a foreign facility where she will be subjected to solitary confinement, social isolation, emotional stress, and public humiliation.  Jenny has worked selflessly for the benefit of Dallas and its residents for the last 22 years and deserves a better fate.

This is short but sweet. Please excuse the diary's brevity.

Update: The Dallas Morning news is reporting that the story isn't true, and that the vote was only to refer the matter to the South Central Jurisdiction's conference scheduled for July in Dallas. H/tip Hprof.

Well at least we know.

The People of the United Methodist Church organization has met in Fort Worth, Texas and voted overwhelmingly to reject [by a vote total of 844-20] the proposal to house the Bush Presidential Library at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

This has got to be a devastating blow to the organizations who have fervently campaigned for this -- not to mention the frat-boy-in-chief. Bush had wanted to locate his library at a prestigious location close to Crawford. It ain't happening. Get over it, shrub.  

A woman named Lisa wrote in to John over at Americablog to share her mother's firsthand experience with Hillary's dirty tricks in Texas this past weekend to disenfranchise Lone State voters.  It is a disturbing account for many reasons, and Lisa wondered why such dirty tricks weren't being covered by the media.  I wonder that too.  So I felt compelled to share Lisa's account on here, in the hopes of giving the story wider visibility.

...but consider the source.

Mark Davis, a Dallas/Fort Worth-area wingnut talk-show gas-bag (sorry for the redundancies, there) has a regular weekly column in the Dallas Morning News. Most weeks, it's typical RWCM bull, and easily discarded as red meat for his followers. Today, it's actually a seemingly reasoned consideration of whether there will be a so-called "dream ticket" of either Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama.

Until you get to the last paragraph, that is. And, then, Davis finds a subtle way to knife Obama. It's even subtler than the HRC "as far as I know" method -- and therein lies the tale. More below.

According to the Dallas lifestyle magazine The Advocate, the Clinton campaign has hired Southern Fried Marketing to help get out the vote next Tuesday in Texas. How, you ask?

Star-Telegram Newspaper Article that Secret Service Stopped Dallas Police From Weapons Screening at Obama Rally

This just happened between 9 and 10 am this morning.  A Dallas P.D. motorcycle officer in the motorcade accompanying Hillary Clinton was killed in a traffic accident.  

Evidently, the officer was traveling at "a high rate of speed" and hit the concrete wall of an overpass near downtown Dallas.  He was taken to Methodist hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the Clinton campaign itself.  

UPDATED:The story is on the UPI newswire, nowhttp://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/02/21/report_security_relaxed_at_obama_speech/8649/

( I received an answer from a front pager that I highly respect, to not delete.)

I find this terrifying...

Evidently, the Secret Service in Dallas gave an order to stop screening for weapons, an hour before Obama took the stage. This was supposedly in order to "expedite" moving the crowd.

More below...

Thanks for putting this on the rec list! If this thread becomes too unwieldy, Just Another Vet will open a secondary one.

Hi everyone!  I'm opening this thread to liveblog today's Town Hall Meeting with Barack Obama at Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas.

The venue seats 19,500 people.  Folks camped out overnight in order to be admitted.  I think we're going to pack this place. Correction: We ARE going to pack this place! People are still lined up around the block and the venue is almost full.  The entire lower level is full and the top level is now halfway full.

I know of at least three of us who were given blogger press passes: myself, Just Another Vet, and Todd with BOR. I haven't seen him yet, but You might go ahead and check BOR during the event in case Todd shows up. Thank you to Debbie from the Obama campaign for hooking the bloggers up with press passes.  

Regardless, JAV and I will liveblog the event for as long as the wireless holds out.  Click on through....

In today's New York Times article, "New Trove Opened in Kennedy Killing," Leslie Eaton refers to those who question the Warren Commission "lone gunman" theory as "conspiracy theorists" or "conspiracy enthusiasts."

Program starts at Noon!  Not sure why this is not on the Obama Texas Web Page, but I just RSVP'd to the event after being invited by e-mail for being on the e-mail list.
Just letting everyone know, since it is seemingly not up yet on the Obama site. Sorry for the brevity- at work, gotta go.                                                                                              

Houston you are the lucky ones!!! You get Obama before us Dallas people.

http://blog.texansforobama.com/...

Barack Obama in Houston on Tuesday, February 19

Join Barack Obama for a special 'Stand for Change' Rally in Houston on Tuesday,

The event is free and open to the public. However, tickets are required and admission is on a first come, first-served basis.

There a chance Dallas Texas people might get to see him Wednesday.

If Hillary Clinton is counting on massive Latino support for her candidacy in Texas, there may be a generational flaw in her plan, an article in the San Antonio Express-News suggests today.

Reporter Gary Sharrer notes that

 San Antonio's first Hispanic mayor Henry Cisneros, 60, is supporting Clinton. The city's second Hispanic mayor, Ed Garza, 39, elected 20 years after Cisneros, is supporting Obama.

Contrasting the different political allegiances of elected Hispanic officials with their elected-official children, Sharrar's article found opinions aligned more with age than ethnicity.

Mornin', Kossacks.  So glad you could join us for today's All-Texas/All-the-Time histrionics and hoopla on DailyKos.  

To start the day off right, kath25 has invited y'all to a free breakfast at the grand opening of the brand new Obama HQ in Austin, TX. Don't miss her live-bloggin' and be part of the fun and merriment as thousands of Texans (and transplants) discover that they really are not all alone in a red state wilderness.

And there's lots more to see and share, if you'll mosey on over the jump for a kossacks' tour of TX.

Hello, all:

I've just walked in from Dallas' first Obama rally, and am typing this as my eight-year-old and I are eating dinner and basking in the glow of the fun we had.

We've signed up to phone bank, we've signed up to provide some grub from time to time, and we've signed up to take a national volunteer in for the duration of the campaign.

In short, we're both PUMPED!

UPDATE: I awoke this morning to find this note from the campaign:

I have never been more proud of the ObamaDallas volunteers than tonight at the Gilley's event.  The campaign staffers said they have never seen anything like it.  Even when I teased them and said 'I'll bet you say that to all the grassroots girls' they said, no, we are absolutely in awe.  The support, the crowd, the readiness to get to work...they are just stunned. And, when I told them about you guys, it was another jaw-dropping experience for them. Very very soon, they'll harness your forces for the campaign. I can hardly wait...they ain't seen nothin' yet! All the best and much thanks...Molley Hanchey

You have the power, now learn the skills! The Democracy for America Training Academy is coming to Dallas, Texas for two days of exciting campaign training.

How many votes do you need to win your election? How do you find the perfect message that resonates with voters in your district? How will you raise enough money to pay for it all?

The DFA Training Academy will help you answer these questions and more.

That's right, North Texans....

Just 76 minutes and counting until our 6:30 p.m. Kos meetup here in Big D little A double L A S (Dallas) -- this time, with special guest Kossack OrangeClouds. As a reminder, here are the details:

Tonight (December 4) -- 6:30 p.m.
Roti Grill
4438 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, TX 75205
(214) 521-3655

More below: