Hey all, Democracy for Texas (a spinoff from the 2004 Dean for Texas campaign) will be partying with Butch Hancock tonight and fundraising. Details here.

Continuing "All Wal-Mart, All the Time" week here at Chronic, we bring you another breathless exclusive. Always!

In progressive quarters, much has been made of the serendipitous delay of the big-box ordinance for months on end, a delay which allowed the Wal-Mart site plan at Northcross to proceed unabated. Timelines are floating around the city, showing how inaction at critical junctions made Wal-Mart miss the boat. Coincidences all, we're assured.

That said, it further boggles the mind that only three days before the Northcross site plan was filed with the city, Toby Futrell filed a conflict of interest disclosure statement with the city... naming Wal-Mart.

We couldn't make this up if we tried.

Lost amidst the deluge of Wal-Mart runoff last week was a letter to City Council from several of Austin's environmental leaders, urging them to change course on building Water Treatment Plant 4 at its proposed, environmentally sensitive location. "We ask that you remove yourself from the box the Utility has unnecessarily put the City in of building in either the sensitive Bull Creek watershed or in the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve," the letter reads, urging the city to "initiate a new, more reasonable site selection process."

Free-market booster Michael Quinn Sullivan, the voice behind the voice of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, is leaving his VP post to lead a new organization with a similar low-to-no taxes mindset. The startup, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, seeks to divert the state's $15 billion surplus into the hands of taxpayers, and has created a website and blog (www.empowertexans.com) to further its mission. If you're hankering for more details about the new group, then get thee to the reception TPPF is hosting for Sullivan. The festivities are set for 5pm Friday at the Foundation's headquarters, 900 Congress Ave. A former newspaper reporter, Sullivan jumped from the liberal media into the free-market fire in the mid-Nineties to serve as an aide to U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, the anti-tax Republican from Surfside, before moving to the nonprofit, non-partisan (wink, wink) sector. Apparently, it will take three people to fill Sullivan's shoes: staffers Bill Peacock, Mary Katherine Stout, and Shari Hanrahan, all got promotions out of the deal.

Yes, Longhorn fans, it’s cringe-worthy indeed to see the very same Oklahoma Sooners that your team so soundly thrashed this year waltz into a BCS bowl game against mighty mighty Boise State. Can we only dream of a potato-lover’s upset? Take heart. In the back of his mind, Bob Stoops, when not obsessing over the Oregon win the refs robbed him of, has a festering sore that is Mack Brown. Two losses in a row, Bob. Just pretend it doesn’t bother you. We believe you. Honest, we do. Yes, the Okies topped Nebraska, another loser to Texas, in the just-doesn't-matter Big 12 Championship game. Neither team looked like a contender.

None of this excuses the Horns’ season-ending collapse, which was a train wreck from which it’s hard to look away, but do look. Look to the future. All the way to the National Football League where former University of Texas players are everywhere and kicking ass:

+ Cedric Benson is starting and scoring for da Chicago Bears, who clinched the NFC North this weekend.

+ Phil Dawson kicked a field goal in overtime to seal the Cleveland Brown’s win over the Chief.

+ Roy Williams became the first Detroit Lions receiver with more than 1,000 yards since Johnnie Morton in 2001. Oh, and he likes to hang with teammates DE Cory Redding, DT Shaun Rogers, and OT Jonathan Scott.

+ Vince Young (oh, we miss you, Vince …) is slowly making believers of Nashville Titans fans with his second straight come-from-behind victory.

+ Chris Simms is the second-best former UT QB in the NFL even when he’s not playing. There are two of them? I still can’t believe it.

+ Vince’s favorite throwing target of late? Ahmad Hall. (Am I the only one who keeps wanting to call him Ahmad Brooks?) Of course, Vince can also aim for tight end Bo Scaife.

+ Quentin Jammer is a tackling machine for the 10-2 San Diego Chargers.

John Bolton announces he will step down as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations once his interim-appointment expires in less than a month.

He plans to spend the time with his family, chasing them down hotel hallways.

Having rode late into Ciro Rodriguez's cash-strapped battle against incumbent Henry Bonilla in Congressional District 23, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has, according to Paul Burka, ponied up $154,000 in ad-buys for Rodriguez.

Peep the ad below:

Elaborating on a comment he left here, bilious blogger M1EK writes that of all the reasons to oppose the Northcross Wal-Mart, decrying it for not being on the freeway is a non-starter. Instead, in order to honor those hallowed goals of pedestrian friendliness, incorporated into the design standards ordinance and elsewhere, it makes more sense to put it at a location like Northcross – a place with a transfer center, on a major arterial.

As someone without a car himself, it can be taxing enough to get to the H-E-B and back for weekly purchases, and that's off of a main thoroughfare, Red River. God forbid I ever want to tote back a 64-pack of Sam's Choice cola. Crossing the freeway, or walking along an overpass is out of the question. So setting aside the question of how much money you actually save shopping there, after all the illusory loss-leaders (see the last paragraph of the section passage here), shouldn't such stores be accessible to those in the lower economic-strata, those that travel by bus?

Your faithful correspondent has a crushing hangover and is late for the Fun Fun Fun festivities in Waterloo Park, so let's get to it. In 5A Division I, Westlake is battling Los Fresnos in Victoria as we speak. Central Texas' other 5A cardiac kids, Round Rock (Division I) and San Marcos (Division II), soldier on into the regional semis, the Dragons versus Allen 2pm Saturday at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, and the Rattlers (who have won their first two playoff games by a single point each) taking on Harlingen South 7:30pm tonight at Laredo's Student Activity Center. Also tonight, 7pm in San Antonio's Alamodome, is probably the weekend's best game anywhere in the state: defending 3A Division II state champs Wimberley against Cuero, who spent most of the season as 3A's top-ranked team. Also tonight, class 1A's Thorndale takes on La Villa, 7:30pm at Jones High School in Beeville.

Tomorrow, Hays gets Corpus Christi Calallen at noon in the Alamodome (4A Division II), Liberty Hill and Sweeny get underway at 2pm at Viking Stadium in Bryan (3A Division II), Lexington and Freer tangle at 6:30pm at Canyon High in New Braunfels (2A Division II), and Leander meets up with Garland 7pm at Waco ISD Stadium.

Travel-averse fans have their choice of three games in the area this weekend: what should be a great one between Spring Westfield and Plano East (5A Division I) 2pm Saturday at Round Rock ISD Stadium; Shiner vs. Iola (1A Division II) 6pm tomorrow at Burger Center; and Chilton vs. Rocksprings (1A Division II), 7:30pm tonight in Dripping Springs. Like Dennis Miller said, "That's the news and I ... am ... outta ... here."