With all the family arriving today, I’ll be doing light blogging for the next few days as we celebrate this wonderful holiday.  I hope you and your families have a very Merry Christmas!

Don’t forget to keep track of Santa as he makes it around the globe today!  That’s what my daughter and I will be doing today.

During this past election, my State Representative Valinda Bolton (D, incumbent) was running against Donna Keel (R).  I had no doubts that Bolton would hold onto her seat.  However, Keel was chided because she was the sister-in-law to the State House parliamentarian who was nominated by a controversial speaker.  It was a small bit of controversy about the big, bad Republican knowing business people and wanting to help them out instead of the little guys in the district.  Same old DvR politics.

I bring this up because the parliamentarian, Terry Keel, filed an ethics complaint against a Democratic consultant after he used his website to report what Keel called false statements as news.  The consultant, Kelly Fero, was working on the county’s DA race at the time.  He quoted Keel as saying he was too busy trying to get Fero’s boss ousted in the Democratic primary to help his own sister-in-law win her race.

Keel accused Fero of setting up a blog in order to write posts that were then circulated by his boss’s campaign as a news story.   The Texas Ethics Commission rejected the complaint because the posting was anonymous and did not reveal its source.  Keel plans to pursue further legal options against Fero.

This is a little worrisome to me as a blogger.  If Fero really did set this blog up to be a “source” for his campaign, that is very disconcerting.  My blog is editorial, and I make no claims to be a news blog.  However, I can see where a scheme like this could fool those who don’t take the time to research the ads they are being fed.  And even if a faker is exposed by other bloggers probably, chances are few will ever hear about it.  So, chances are the damage is done.

Since the Ethics Commission rejected the complaint, what are the standards they used?  Keel accused Fero of violating truth-in-political-advertising laws, I suppose because the posting was anonymous.  It would make sense to me that if Keel had proof that Fero DID write this post for the express purpose of being used in political advertising, then I would think this would be a clear ethics violation.

I guess bloggers will just have to work harder to convince readers of their honesty and then have some patience while the time passes as they continue to become more and more important means of disseminating information.

Obama’s team released it’s much-anticipated internal “investigation” into contacts between it and Blaojevich’s office regarding Obama’s Senate seat.

In short, Obama discussed his preferences with Rahmbo and Axelrod, and Rahmbo relayed the list to Blago and staff.  Rahmbo apparently didn’t know which was Obama’s top preference, and he touted Jarrett to Blago.  Also revealed, Jarrett heard it through the grapevine that Blago wanted Secretary of HHS and made the comment that it would never happen, though it’s not apparent if Obama knew of Blago’s desires.

As I’ve written before, if the O would have just come forward and admitted his team discussed the seat with Blago as almost everyone would expect, this wouldn’t be a big deal.  The fact he denied contact, then denied “inappropriate” contact after admitting there was contact, makes this situation all the more suspicious.  Welcome to the age of “O”paquency.

Here’s Hot Air’s breakdown, and they link to the report as well.

I’m a HUGE fan of Bret Baier, so I’m very excited to see he’s been named to replace Brit Hume on FNC’s “Special Report.”  I thought Jim Angle might get it, and don’t get me wrong, I like Jim a lot.  However, I’m really excited that Bret will take over.  I wish him all the best in his new job!

I ditto Allah’s thoughts over at Hot Air about rotating in some fresher commentators, such ask Kirsten Powers or Mary Katharine Ham as he suggests.  I also like S. E. Cupp and Marc Lamont Hill.  Hopefully, Bret can help bring in some of these voices.

Afterthought: I just watched the tribute to Brit on the show. Very moving.  I like that Brit yells at the GPS for not using proper grammar.  He seems so well respected, and it appears he will be missed greatly by many.

And those 23% probably don’t even know the meaning of myopic.  These are the people who say Dick Cheney is the worst VP ever.  Lest they forget, Hot Air has compiled a list of those VPs who might just be a little worse.  I agree that Cheney has been good from what I’ve seen, and his inteview this weekend helped solidify my feelings on that.

Despite reporting during the Clinton years of the potential Freddie / Fannie bust, the New York Times spent 5000 words blaming the economic collapse ENTIRELY on the Bush administration.  The White House, understandably, was not too thrilled.

While Bush should have pressed harder for reform (he mentioned it yearly in the budget but didn’t really do anything about it), he is by no means the catalyst that deflated this economy.  Here’s the report from one of Brit Hume’s last “Special Report” broadcasts on FNC.

Later in the broadcast, Nina Easton from Fortune Magazine said, quite aptly, “You cannot write a story about affordable housing policies and blame it on George Bush instead of the Democrats!  I mean, it’s just, it’s outrageous!”

More from Michelle Malkin.

Bush has been keeping a secret.  No, he isn’t tapping our phones without warrants again.

He’s been secretly visiting families of soldiers who were killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by going off the grid and making appointments with families off his official record.  V.P. Cheney has been, too.  Bush has also made more trips to visit the wounded than had been thought.  He wanted these moments to be private and not have the press asking lots of questions of those he visited.  It’s reported he visited more than 500 families behind the scenes.  He told a journalist that he’s not just Commander in Chief but Comforter in Chief.  Laura says these visits took an emotional toll on the President.

I hope Obama continues the tradition; however, I’m afraid he won’t if he can’t have the press by his side.

Looks like there is quite a bit of backlash against the anointment appointment of Carline Kennedy to Hillary’s Senate seat in NY if Hillary makes it through the Sec. State confirmation processes.  She’s no more qualified than Fran Drescher (who has also launched a bid for the seat) to be a Senator.  She’s got a name and a degree.  I’m glad to see that Gov. Paterson might be listening to the critics.

Update: Corrected the spelling of Gov. Paterson’s name.

I saw the interview of Dick Cheney on Fox News Sunday this weekend.  I thought the interview was great.  I really admire Cheney, even though I think some of the phone tap stuff that he supported was wrong.

During the chat, Chris Wallace asked Cheney about Biden’s retort that Cheney was the worst VP in history.  He basically said Biden needs to study up a little on the Constitution before he says someone is bad at his or her job.  Kinda funny, because you can tell Cheney’s been dying to say it publically.

The Ontario provincial and the Canadian federal governments have agreed to provide $3.29 B American dollars to the Canadian subsidiaries of the Big 3 automakers.  They had asked for close to twice that amount.  Unlike the American bailout, it appears Ford will participate in this one.  The money comes in the form of renewable loans.  PM Harper said this was not a “blank check,” suggesting the automakers and workers would have to make concessions.

OK, Mexico, your turn.  Oh, wait, they only RECEIVE bailouts, don’t they?

Update: Hot Air has coverage here.