The press release recounts a previous security breach:

A similar security breach took place in 2003. Former student Christopher Phillips was found guilty of accessing protected computers without authorization and possession of stolen Social Security numbers.

Interestingly, Janet Elliott’s reporting for the Chronicle’s Austin bureau also recounts the previous incident:

A similar security breach took place in 2003. Former student Christopher Phillips was found guilty of accessing protected computers without authorization and possession of stolen Social Security numbers.

That looks strikingly similar. Maybe the newspaper should have just posted the press release?

BLOGVERSATION: blogHOUSTON, Lone Star Times

Dan Patrick: 69%
Peggy Hamric: 18%
Joe Nixon: 9%
Mark Ellis: 6%

One more victory Scotch just might be in order.

Dan Patrick: 68%
Peggy Hamric: 17%
Joe Nixon: 9%
Mark Ellis: 6%

A runoff is now mathematically impossible. It’s all over, folks.

Dan Patrick: 68%
Peggy Hamric: 16%
Joe Nixon: 8%
Mark Ellis: 5%

Heh.

Dan Patrick: 69%
Peggy Hamric: 16%
Joe Nixon: 8%
Mark Ellis: 5%

Heh. Time for a victory Scotch.

It’s going to be a very long, but very fun night.

Republican incumbent Rick Perry has 100 times more money on hand for the governor’s race than his richest Democratic opponent, new campaign finances reports show.

With the Republican and Democrat primaries just two weeks away, Perry has $9.4 million in cash, while Democrat Chris Bell has $90,868.90 and Democrat Bob Gammage $23,648, according to campaign finance reports due Monday. The most recent disclosures list cash on hand, as well as contributions and expenditures between Jan. 27 and Saturday.

That’s the balance sheet. Let’s see how the income statement looks:

Perry’s report shows that his campaign raised $923,369 in the past 30 days and spent $407,579. By contrast, Bell raised $259,569 and spent $305,672, and Gammage raised $58,209 and spent $70,996.

Wow. Perry can significantly outspend Bell and still sock away 500 large in a month. Meanwhile, Bell’s boys might be able to afford pizza on election night. I have no idea why people think this guy is a legitimate gubernatorial candidate.

[Hat-tip: Perry vs. World]

Click on the proper county to find your polling place:

• Harris
• Fort Bend
• Waller
• Montgomery
• Galveston
• Brazoria

Vote!

To the voters of District 22:It has been over a month since Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle acted out his political revenge and indicted me for crimes that don’t exist. And over the last month, we have seen such a litany of prosecutorial misconduct that even the national media is questioning his motives.

Look at who is studying this circus-like investigation and you’ll see that journalists and legal experts are acknowledging these charges are baseless, partisan, and nothing more than revenge for my work to provide the people of Texas with a fair and constitutional congressional representation. I am being attacked not for doing anything wrong – I’m being attacked for being effective and standing up for what’s right.

I have had the honor of representing Fort Bend for over 20 years, and in that time I have always been truthful and forthright in everything from my positions on immigration and tax reform to my involvement in local politics. Not everyone agrees with my conservative brand of politics. My plainspoken style might ruffle feathers from time to time. But you always know where I stand, and I always stand up for what I believe.

It’s no secret that on top of the deep sense of responsibility I have for advancing the interests of this congressional district, I have also worked to help elect fellow Republicans. Without a unified team of conservative leaders, many of the remarkable changes we’ve seen in government would never have occurred. Without Republican majorities, we would never have ended a generational welfare system, reduced overbearing tax rates, or created an economic environment for small businesses to flourish.

Because of their decade of defeat, Democrats have now dropped to the least common denominator – the politics of personal destruction. They held power in state and federal politics for so long, they can’t fathom Republican control of elected offices. They simply don’t understand that we win election after election because our ideas, our agenda, and our values are more representative of the voters and the American dream than theirs. And instead of re-evaluating their position on key issues like immigration, taxes, national security, and government spending, they have chosen a path of personal destruction.

Look at the attacks thrown at our strong Republican leaders – Karl Rove, Senator Bill Frist, and especially President Bush – and it becomes quite apparent that liberals are trying to divert attention from their own political problems, so they try to turn the tables on us. They call us criminals. They demand investigations, file lawsuits, and mock-up mugshots. They say we should be serving time in jail, not in public office. But they still won’t win.

What we’re fighting is so much larger than a single court case or a single District Attorney in Travis County. We are witnessing the criminalization of conservative politics. Here in Texas, we take our ideas and our ideals very seriously, and we fight for what we believe in. You have that right. I have that right. Ronnie Earle has that right. But these fights are meant to take place at the ballot box, not the jury box. Just because a rogue Democratic prosecutor doesn’t agree with some political tactics doesn’t make them illegal or even wrong. He has an opinion, but he doesn’t make the law.

Ronnie Earle is wrong on the facts. He’s wrong on the law. And he has abused his position, the taxpayer dollars, and our justice system throughout this process. I’ve listed below just a few instances of Mr. Earle’s misconduct (you can go to my website www.tomdelay.com for a more complete rundown and to sign up for e-mail updates):

* Earle’s indictments are based on non-existent laws, and non-existent documents.

* Earle went to three grand juries in four business days in a desperate attempt to salvage his deteriorating case.

* For two years, Ronnie Earle assisted in the filming of a documentary movie about Mr. Earle’s planned prosecutorial efforts targeting me.

* In May 2005, Earle used his investigation to raise $102,000 for a Democrats’ PAC that was formed to take back the Texas State Legislature.

* Past is prologue – In 1993, Ronnie Earle used his office to attack newly-elected Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on baseless charges of misconduct.

We have fought and won many battles together, united and determined in the justice of our cause – and we will fight and win many more. While they may have made me step aside for now, they can never make us stand down. That’s why I am asking you to stand with me, fight these unjust attacks, and remember that while our victories may come at a price, they’re always worth the fight.

Sincerely,

Tom DeLay
Member of Congress

[Hat-tip: Chris Elam]

• Proposition 1: Against. We don’t need another government agency with the power to borrow money and give it to private companies.
• Proposition 2: For. Texas must not become a laboratory for gay-rights activists eager to change social mores for the nation.
• Proposition 3: Against. We must rein in “economic development grants” which can become little more than unpoliced giveaways to the politically connected.
• Proposition 4: For. If you violate bail once, you shouldn’t get it again.
• Proposition 5: For. Commercial borrowers are big boys; they don’t need the Legislature to protect them from themselves.
• Proposition 6: For. Increased public oversight of the judiciary is just fine with me.
• Proposition 7: For. If Grandma wants to borrow money, why should the state get in her way?
• Proposition 8: Abstain. I don’t even know, off the top of my head, where in the hell Smith or Upshur Counties are.
• Proposition 9: Against. Longer terms for mobility board members would only make them even less accountable to the public than they currently are.

Feel free to print out your own copy of the Official Mattsapundit Voting Guide, make a few thousand copies, and hand them out to everyone in your precinct.

Mattsapundit: Guiding Our Democracy, So You Don’t Have To.®

A Dallas cab driver is in big trouble for getting caught on tape sprinkling dried feces on pastries.49-year-old Behrouz Nahidmobarekeh is on trial for allegedly throwing fecal matter on pastries at a Fiesta grocery store.

Police said they found a pile of human feces by his bed.

He would dry it, either by microwave or just letting it sit out and grate it up with a cheese grater and then sprinkle it at the store, officials said.

What would Pepe the Parrot think?

IT’S THE SMELL OF TEXAS HOME COOKIN’ — and I don’t mean that beef stuff they pass off as barbecue.

That’s it, Reynolds. This means war.

UPDATE: The lovely and talented Anne Linehan pledges to muster her forces, even going so far as to lure invite Reynolds in for a devious trap meal.

UPDATE 2: Laurence Simon joins the fight.

UPDATE 3: Josh Wills set up a blog to battle the Instadeception.

While holing up at my folks’ place in Sheridan, I saw the storm track turn northward and decided to make the trek home. I figured it would be dicey to make the trek home when half the world is trying to come back to Houston, so I decided to beat the crowd.

It was a pretty sweet drive. 80 mph from Columbus all the way in to Dairy Ashford. There was hardly anyone on the road, going either direction. One interesting thing I saw, though, was a small convoy of vehicles from Arizona. State troopers were escorting a Suburban bearing Phoenix Fire Department markings, along with three large trucks and a chartered bus. They were heading east, right into Houston. It’s good to know other states are stepping up.

I read the news today, oh boy. The Chris Bell for Governor campaign is calling off our online fundraising drive out of respect for the hurricane victims. Please do what you can for those who can’t do for themselves. Please do as much as you can, and then please do more. We’re taking down our fundraising thermometer and putting up the link to the Red Cross until the end of the week. 

Incredibly, a commenter on the blog seemed to think that Bell was pouring his campaign war chest into hurricane relief:

Because of your kindness, I am paying it forward by making a donation to the victims of Hurricane Katrina — victims that include friends of family of ours. God bless you, Chris, and anyone else who donates to the Red Cross. 

What kindness? Bell avoids looking tacky by soliciting political funds during a disaster, AND he can gloss over the fact that he was going to fall 10-20% short of his modest goal. It’s not like Bell is shutting down his campaign and donating surplus “Re-Elect Chris Bell to Congress” yard signs as roofing materials.

Our dessert could become a battlefield with many innocent casualties.

Oh, the humanity! I can just imagine the hellish nightmare that could result: a creme brulee littered with tattered corpses. A chocolate cake, pockmarked with smoldering craters. Our nation’s jelly rolls will run red with blood.

And raspberry filling.

However, the F-16 fighters of the Texas Air National Guard stationed at Ellington Field would seem to have limited utility in deterring or attacking today’s terrorists.

Shockingly, the Pentagon disagrees with the Chronicle‘s editorial board. You see, the 147th Fighter Wing is on its way to Iraq for some good old-fashioned bad-guy killin’:

Ellington Field was the scene of tears, hugs and American flags Tuesday night as several hundred personnel from the 147th Fighter Wing of the Texas Air National Guard shipped out for Iraq.The mission, at a time when the Pentagon is considering retiring all of the wing’s F-16s, is to provide air support for ground troops. Personnel and pilots are expected to remain in Iraq until the early fall.

Also, for some odd reason, this story is filed in the Chron‘s sports directory.

Nobel laureate Jack Kilby, whose invention of the integrated circuit ushered in the electronics age and made possible the microprocessor, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 81.Kilby died Monday, according to Texas Instruments Inc., where he worked for many years.

Before the integrated circuit, electronic devices relied on bulky and fragile circuitry, including glass vacuum tubes. In the late 1950s, there was considerable interest — especially in the military — in making devices smaller.

Kilby’s fingernail-size integrated circuit, a forerunner of the microchip used in today’s computers, replaced the bulky and unreliable switches and tubes.

Just think of the impact that the integrated circuit has had on our daily lives. I was awakened this morning by an electronic clock radio, shaved with an chip-equipped electric razor, had a cup of coffee from a microprocessor-controlled coffee pot, set my electronic thermostat, got in my chip-laden car, and drove to work, where I used a fax machine, computer, PDA and cell phone, all made possible and cost-effective because of integrated circuits.

In case you’re not yet convinced of Kilby’s enormous contribution to society, just think where you’d have to get your news if it wasn’t for the integrated circuit.

Some Hispanic Dallas moms say they’re often in the dark about how their children are performing in school because they don’t know English, and the principal doesn’t know Spanish. A new proposal before the school board would force principals to learn the native language of the majority of students — for 43 percent of pupils at Dallas schools that language is Spanish.

In-depth investigation by LST’s research department has revealed a few interesting facts about Mr. May:

While sitting on a redistricting commission in 1991, May was instrumental in gerrymandering Dallas City Council districts for the benefit of Democrats. May — later a Democrat precinct chair — did a little too well, and the Fifth Circuit Court overturned the new district maps.

In a 2003 redistricting hearing, May lamented:

69.8 percent of all households living in overcrowded conditions in Dallas, Texas are of Hispanic origin.

Incidentally, tax records show that he’s a real estate investor. It looks like he specializes in renting out… um… low-income housing. You know, like a 60-year-old frame house with no air conditioning.

A common complaint against some Hispanic political groups, particularly LULAC (an organization that May ran in Dallas) and MEChA is that they secretly want to return heavily Hispanic areas of the United States to Mexican control. May’s comments don’t do much to quell those concerns:

“I’m not pushing any change … bilingual, bicultural way of life has been in this state before the Alamo was here,” trustee Joe May said.

Is May suggesting that we go back to pre-Texas Revolution days?

[Hat-tip: LST reader Lee Hopkins]