Trish Choate's blog

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, was eyeballing financial statements long before he became audit chairman for the National Republican Congressional Committee in 2007.

Here is the statement released by National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole:

Washington- NRCC Chairman Tom Cole made the following statement and distributed the following update on the current investigation and apparent accounting irregularities:

The Mutual UFO network is still waiting for the analyzation of video and still images from the recent UFO sightings in Stephenville, Texas.

Results could be back in about three weeks, Ken Cherry, MUFON state director for Texas, said.

Cherry said journalists seem to be taking the rash of sightings in January seriously.

Getting into the spirits of things this election, Svedka Vodka is campaigning to "Put a Fembot in the White House."
The campaign site -- www.FembotintheWhiteHouse.com -- urges voters on the one hand to drink responsibly but to "make the future a better place to party."

Stefan Meining gave a fascinating account of Muslims in Germany during his talk, "Between the Crescent and the Swastika: The Emergence of Political Islam in Germany," yesterday at George Washington University, but when I walked away from it, the thing that stuck with me was his mentioning two or three times that Muslims have scholarly debates about a husband's right to beat his wife.

A German columnist for the esteemed Esquire magazine is griping about the airing of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and those who watch it.
For his PG-13 column, plus some name calling, go here.

Jeffrey Blitz has found new ground to break on adolescent angst in the flick "Rocket Science".
Blitz directed the 2002 documentary "Spellbound". He chronicled the efforts of eight contestants to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee crown.

After hours of passionate debate, the House approved a resolution to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, leaving only a "limited presence" by April 2008.
The 223-201 vote pretty much followed party lines.

House members by the dozens, it seems, are rising to support or bash the latest bill proposing a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

The Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Actappears to be drawing fire pretty well along party lines.

The former first lady known for strewing wildflowers across rugged Texas died today.

Lady Bird Johnson's passing has sparked comments from Texas congressmen who all have something good to say about former First Lady Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson.