...to Dems and particularly to Nick Lampson if he loses the race for Tom Delay's seat to a write-in candidate? The Houston Chronicle says that it could happen. I'm assuming that whoever wins will continue to be a steadfast supporter of pork at JSC, including Orion.

Rand, "pork" is not defined as "government spending I don't like." Orion is a specific project, requested by both NASA and the administration and approved by Congress. "Pork", or by the more polite term "earmarks", is an item of spending, not requested by the administration or any government agency, but nevertheless inserted in an appropriations bill by a member of Congress solely for t6he purpose of benefiting his or her district or state.

Mark, when the request is made primarily because of a sense of the lay of the Congressional land, it qualifies as pork as well. Do you really believe that Mike would be pushing Shuttle-derived so hard if he didn't think that Congress insisted on preserving as many jobs as possible?

Dammit! Stop talking Pork! It's bad enough time change has pushed lunch back an hour!

No, Rand, the request was made because President Bush decided that it would be a good idea to return to the Moon. Now, if it is your position that any government spending that by coicidence or design happens to benefit a Congressional district or state is "pork", then most if not all of the Federal budget would be considered pork. That is not a logical position.

No, Rand, the request was made because President Bush decided that it would be a good idea to return to the Moon.

There are many ways to return to the moon that don't necessarily involve pork at JSC. Or Huntsville. Or Utah. There is a reason that Dr. Griffin chose the particular way he did.

Now, if it is your position that any government spending that by coicidence or design happens to benefit a Congressional district or state is "pork", then most if not all of the Federal budget would be considered pork. That is not a logical position.

Of course it's not my position. It's a straw man. And an unsurprising one, considering the source.

Actually reading the story and filling in the blanks SSW is actually trailing Lampson by 9 points - by that logic Chris Bell has a good chance of beating Gov. Perry.

Nothing here to see.

Eh, who cares? Over on his blog, Mark is writing romantic fiction, complete with "soft, nubile bodies" and "dusky thighs." You can't get any better than that! Well, maybe if he included some heaving bosoms on a dark and stormy night...

Bill Greeley obviously did not get the point of my post about how scenes from a novel can be taken out of context. By the way, no heaving bossems, but lots of gun fire and explosions in Nocturne (g).

"Bill Greeley obviously did not get the point of my post about how scenes from a novel can be taken out of context."

No, I got it. I just thought that any point that you tried to make was overshadowed by purple prose. Really, now, "dusky thighs"?! I've never met a woman with "dusky thighs."

[and my goof, I meant to post this to the thread about S3X in Space, not here]

That's alright, Bill, as it would have been inappropriate there as well, since the sex you're referring to is described as taking place on Earth. The "purple prose" you are referring to is taking place from the POV of one of the participants in the encounter, who is shown to not be quite right in the head. Again a good example of taking things out of context (g).

It wouldn't be surprising to me at all... that district was carefully gerrymandered last time around. It almost says more that Lampson might beat the Republican candidate, regardless of whether they are a write-in or not.

Reporters love ahorse race, because then they have a story.

"Lampson proposed to horsewhip GOP candidate" is
a one day story. "Close race in TX-22" allows
them to report every day.

The key is not only do the GOP candidates have to
prefer a write-in they need to know who the
write-in candidate is.

It's kind of surprising Bush is coming out to campaign for a
seat in Texas.

It's kind of surprising Bush is coming out to campaign for a seat in Texas.

No more surprising than your showing up here with your moronic commentary. In fact, quite a bit less.

I'll be surprised is Shelley Sekula Gibs (even her name is banned by Rand) wins by write-in. In the days of the paper ballot, I could believe this, but with the new computer machines, this is really a pain.

For anyone to vote for SSG, they have to select write-in, then spin a wheel around many times to spell out her full name (those great at Asteroids may find this familiar, but others won't). I suspect one or two incorrect letters might still get counted, but you have to believe the DNC will have a lawyers pointing out that Shelley Gibs could be someone else. She has only two things helping her: Instructions that can be taken with you to the polling place, and her name appearing in full for the special election to fill the vacant position for the remainder of the year.

To vote for Lampson, a Democrat need only vote straight ticket and go home.

This is the most dishonest way to present poll results I've ever witnessed from a media organization:

Lampson (D) 36%
All write-ins 35%
Smither (L) 4%

Among the write-ins, SSG has 79%. So that means the poll really looks like this:

Lampson (D) 36%
SSG (R) 28%
All other write-ins 7%
Smither (L) 4%

MOE 4.5%

I don't see how these facts result in the headline: "Write-in could win DeLay's spot, poll finds." Yes, and monkeys could sprout wings
and fly out of my ass, but that is not likely to happen.