David Harris will join the Band of Brothers in DC

We just got this via email from the Band of Brothers:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Mike Lyon
(804) 263-0717
mike@bandofbrothers2006.org

David Harris Will Attend Washington Event; Veterans’ Alliance Announces Gathering of Congressional Candidates

Washington DC – Today the Veterans’ Alliance for Security and Democracy and the Band of Brothers 2006, announced a large gathering of Democratic military veteran congressional candidates in Washington DC on February 8. David Harris, currently running in the 6th district of Texas against Congressman Joe Barton is excited to come and meet his fellow brothers next week. More than fifty men and women who have served our country with honor and courage are fighting once again to bring those values to Congress. A full day of events is scheduled for these patriots, including a 10 am press conference at the Capitol West Lawn, featuring the candidates and former U.S. Senator Max Cleland, sessions on campaign tactics, and a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. In case of inclement weather, the press conference will be held at the States Services Organization, 444 North Capitol Street, NW.

“We believe this event will strengthen and enhance the spirit of community and synergy that is growing among these unique candidates, and will make a vital contribution to their success at the polls in November,” said COL Richard Klass, USAF (ret), VETPAC’s Executive Director.

Fifty-three Democratic veterans are running for a congressional seat this year. They come from 26 states, and represent all branches of the armed services. More than half of the candidates have fought in combat.

"We intend to increase the proportion of veterans in Congress, which has steadily declined since the 1970s," said, Mike Lyon, Band of Brothers Executive Director.

VETPAC and the Band of Brothers 2006 were formed by American Veterans and military family members to promote the principles and values for which members of the armed forces have served our country, fought, and died. Working together with the American People, we are embarked on a "search and rescue" mission to promote national leadership that will help us rescue America's future from policies that threaten our national security, our civil liberties, our country’s economy and, indeed, even our Constitution. We intend to help our comrades explain to America why the Democratic Party is more qualified to protect America in a post 9/11 world.

Huzzah! BoB and VETPAC are great organisations whom we wholeheartedly endorse.

Gravy Train Update

Annatopia has a nice update about last week's Gravy Train protest. Read it if you haven't already.

District Sixer was disappointed that our congressman did not put in an appearance. As has been reported already, he snuck onto the train before most of the demonstrators showed up. We wonder why Smokey Joe is so afraid of facing his constituents. Hrm...

Anyway, we signed up for Barton's mailing list today, so we'll be able to bring you the "inside scoop" on the lies, damned lies, and more damned lies that Barton is sending to his supporters. We're eagerly looking forward to the first missive.

There isn't much news to report, district-wise, at this time. The race is chugging along, with Barton raising money from high-dollar donors and challenger David Harris doing it the old fashioned way by going straight to the people of the Sixth Congressional District.

We did notice one great post over at Follow Me To DC recently. David has posted a statement supporting Rep. Jack Murtha:

Veterans that have fought and been wounded in the service to this Nation.

Veterans that have endured hardships and pain while serving far away from loved ones in a far away land.

Veterans that will have to live with enduring injuries and struggle to make a living after they come back and are not properly taken care of in an under funded VA system.

Veterans that have continued their service to their country because of a profound love for the ideals and the institution itself.

Veterans that have earned the right to a dissenting opinion and to question their leaders when it comes to putting American lives at risk – yet somehow this is unpatriotic.

District Sixer endorses this post and agrees that it is shameful that the GOP has resorted to "swiftboating" a man who's honorably served his country. Have they no shame?

District Sixer also endorses Rep. Murtha's plans for a redeployment of our troops. Isn't it time for them to come home?

Joe Barton's Gravy Train

District Sixer would like to invite everyone in D/FW to show up today at the Santa Fe Railroad station, 1101 Jones Street in Fort Worth. Joe Barton's Gravy Train takes off at approximately 4:00pm. The Star-Telegram published a WaPo article about the Gravy Train. Check it out:

"All Aboard for Joe Barton's 2006 Texas Train Ride," the invitation reads. It is oversized and glossy, printed on the kind of heavy stock that sends the message: This is a Major Event.

If you don't know who Barton is, if you can't imagine why you'd want to pay several thousand dollars for the privilege of playing Texas Hold 'Em with him en route from Fort Worth to San Anton-io, as the invitation promises, then -- it's safe to deduce -- you don't make your living as a Washington lobbyist. For Barton is not only the Republican congressman from the Sixth District of Texas. He is -- more to the point for those who are anteing up for his weekend-long fund-raiser this month, and as the invitation helpfully points out on its cover page -- "Chairman Joe Barton."

Chairman, that is, of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has dominion over everything from healthcare and pharmaceuticals to broadcasters, from cable and telephone companies to energy policy and environmental protection. If you are a lobbyist offered the chance to spend some quality time with Barton ("During the ride, we'll have lots of time to talk," the invitation notes with the subtlety characteristic of these missives), chances are you'll think about getting on board.

Or, as Barton put it in the invitation, "This is going to be a hot ticket!"

Indeed it is, even at the sticker-shock price of $2,000 per individual, $5,000 per political action committee -- hotel rooms not included. As of this writing, 132 attendees had signed up -- mostly from what's commonly referred to as the PAC community, as if they had a unifying belief in something beyond the efficacy of campaign checks.

LOL!

We invite everyone to go down to the railroad station and greet Joe with some signs and cat-calls. Later on we'll be posting all the stops, so come back this afternoon. District Sixer will be onsite this afternoon, and hopefully we'll have some pictures of the event tomorrow morning.

See ya there!

Update: Here is the full schedule, courtesy of Annatopia:

Arrive FW by 3:15 - Presumably they will be ushered in quickly and under heavy security so being there BEFORE the train arrives, if possible, is most important
Depart FW by 4:00
Arrive Cleburne 4:42
Arrive MacGregor/Crawford 5:50
Arrive Temple 6:33
Arrive Taylor 7:26
Arrive Austin 8:20
Arrive San Marcos 9:02
Arrive San Antonio 11:45 - Here they head to the Alamo for an after hours event where they will drop checks for Barton

Barton taking heat over cement kilns in Ellis county

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published an article last week summarising the findings of an air quality study that was completed recently as a requirement of a lawsuit initiated by local clean-air activists. The study says:

A new state study suggests that controlling pollution from cement kilns in Ellis County might be the key to improving air-quality problems in North Texas that regional leaders are struggling to fix.

A final draft of the much-anticipated study, submitted this week to regional leaders, concludes that installing modern pollution-control equipment in the kilns would slash ozone-forming emissions by thousands of tons a year.

The study, conducted by five cement kiln experts appointed by the state, will likely spark calls for state regulators to crack down on pollution from the kilns -- among the largest industrial sources of ozone-forming pollution in the region.

It comes as regional planners struggle to bring the Dallas-Fort Worth region into compliance with federal clean-air laws by a 2010 deadline. Failure to meet that deadline could subject the region to harsh federal sanctions.

Motorists and businesses in the D/FW area will be ordered to do their part to help clean up the air. Some proposals include shutting down drive-thrus during ozone alert days, and adding fees and/or taxes to the purchase of gas-guzzling SUVs. District Sixer supports all efforts to improve the quality of our air, but we also think it's unfair to saddle only consumers with these restrictions.

The cement manufacturers in Ellis county have been fighting these proposals for years, going so far as to personally lobby Rep. Joe Barton to fight for the "right" of the kilns to continue to pollute our air. From the article:

The issue erupted two years ago when U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, lobbied the federal Environmental Protection Agency to exclude his home county from tough new ozone standards adopted in 2004. Regional leaders countered that industrial pollution from Ellis increases ozone levels in the Metroplex. The EPA sided with local leaders and included Ellis in the D-FW ozone noncompliance zone.

District Sixer feels it is only fair for the cement plants in Ellis county to do their part in reducing their emissions, and we believe it can be done without losing any of the jobs which are vital to Ellis County's economy. Federal aid should be given to those plants who agree to upgrade their facilities; perhaps the fed could cover a portion of the upgrade costs.

This is a health issue for everyone living in North Texas. If consumers and local business are going to have to make sacrifices in order to protect our air, then surely the cement manufacturers (the primary polluters) should be required to do the same.

A press release at Annatopia

Hi everyone! We are back from our extended vacation (yes, even us lowly schlubs need to take a break now and then) and look forward to covering the race to unseat Republican Joe Barton in the Sixth District. Unfortunately, we came back and caught up on some nastiness that's been spreading about David Harris over the internet. Follow Me to DC released a statement via Annatopia today addressing these rumors:

"Recent rumors on the internet have accused Democratic congressional candidate David Harris of being the subject of an adultery investigation conducted by the military. As fighting Democrats, we cannot and will not let these false allegations go unchallenged.

Follow Me To DC and David Harris categorically deny that David is the subject of any such investigation now or during his enlistment. These accusations, originally made in responses posted on the Texas-based blog annatopia.com , are patently false. These attacks are being leveled by people with personal grudges who are determined to smear Democrat David Harris, thus ensuring the re-election of corrupt Republican Congressman Joe Barton.

For the past several months, supporters of the Barton campaign have been making inquiries about David to his former colleagues and friends in the military in a desperate attempt to dig up dirt on the next Congressman from TX-06. Joe Barton doesn't have a record he can stand on, so his supporters have created salacious gossip and attacks. Congressman Barton has done nothing to distance himself from these attacks, and seems to prefer a campaign run from the gutter and focused on baseless attacks, instead of new ideas and improving the lives of the people of Texas. David Harris is a veteran and defender of America who has nothing but pride in his record as a citizen, soldier, and family man. Joe Barton is a corrupt Washington insider who has nothing but negative attacks to offer the voters. Congressman Barton is running scared, finally facing a legitimate challenger, one he sneers at as "the guy in the army costume".

Michelle and David Harris would also like to acknowledge that, like many military families suffering under the stress of extended deployments of their loved ones, they have had personal issues with their marriage. Michelle and David honor their vows and commitment to each other and their children. Today their family is stronger than ever, and they are extremely disappointed that their political opponents have chosen to take the low road and make the personal political.

David and Michelle understand all the sacrifices a military family makes, and David has vowed to do everything he can to support our military families as the representative of the sixth congressional district.

The Harris family and Follow Me to DC will not follow Joe Barton into a campaign of negative attacks. Instead, Follow Me to DC will choose to focus on the real issues concerning the residents of the sixth district: rising health care and energy costs, failing schools, the war in iraq, and homeland security. We challenge the Barton campaign to do the same."

Ah, nothing like a good old fashioned scandal to try and distract people from the real issues facing our district. We don't know all the details yet, but we can only imagine how painful this is for the Harris family right now. Considering they've already dealt with this and worked through it, we don't understand why people would bring this up. Don't these trolls realise that there are children involved? Have you no shame?

District Sixer is disappointed that people are spreading these rumors. What really gets us, though, is that the people who are pushing this claim to be "Family Values Republicans". Since when did attempting to break up a marriage become a "Family Value"? District Sixer was under the impression that Republicans wanted to "protect the sanctity of marriage". We thought that, all things being said, David and Michelle did the right thing by committing to each other and working through whatever problems they may have had. To us, that shows the strength of their committment and love for each other and their children.

But it seems that the hypocritical family values crowd would rather than David and Michelle give up on their marriage. They would rather that the Harris family become another statistic and get a divorce. Shame on them.

It's funny how these things work, isn't it?