The Midday Brief: December 21, 2009

Your afternoon reading:

• “5. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, confronts Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at a congressional hearing and tells him he ought to resign. Geithner snaps back at him. Dramatic!” — From DeLay's dancing to town hall protests: This year's Top Ten moments for Texans in DC — Texans on the Potomac

• “Democrat Ronnie Earle's entry into the 2010 election sweepstakes recalls his legal clash more than a decade against Kay Bailey Hutchison - and her political guru, Karl Rove.” — Hutchison and Earle: Haven't we met before? — Trail Blazers

• “Tea Party groups in Dallas, Austin and Houston are rallying today at the offices of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to protest her breaking ranks with a GOP filibuster aimed at stalling the Democrats’ health care bill.” — Texas Tea Party groups rally on Hutchison's health care filibuster vote — The Dallas Morning News

• “A state veterans advocacy agency is accepting applications for funds from $1 million in grants to provide assistance to veterans and their families.” — State funds to offer additional help to veterans — Waco Tribune-Herald

• “Violence along the Mexican side of the border, where drug cartels are effectively in charge rather than government, is a chilling spectacle for people living on the U.S. side -- particularly in El Paso, dubbed America's second-safest major city.” — Border violence: Political infiltration poses worry — El Paso Times

New in The Texas Tribune:

• “Who wants to travel without a map?” — Data App: Frequent Flyers — The Texas Tribune

• “Bloody bodies piled in a truck bed, charred corpses lying next to gas containers in the desert, teens getting shot in the head at point-blank range: As the gory images fill the screen, more than 100 high school students in hoodies and letter jackets sit in rapt attention.” — Shock Therapy — The Texas Tribune