Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
A blog grows one reader at a time. If you like what you read here, please consider forwarding the link.
Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
I can be reached at naa six-one-eight at att dot-com.
Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.
The drawing above is of the extinct Cretan Dwarf Hippopotamus.
Very nice start. A blog is starting to take shape. Check out my blog if you have an opportunity. If you like to listen to my radio show, check out my podcasts.
Where’s the Outrage?
If “all people matter” does that mean Bush and ‘right-wingers’ (whoever that encompasses) also matter?
btw, matter to whom?
Checked out your blog, liked it though we seem to be polar opposites on some of these issues, I will add you to my links section if you don’t mind
Yep—All people matter. I’ve added you to my links as well. Thanks for reading my blog and for posting comments.
I couldn’t find your email, so I had to post a comment to catch your attention. I was hoping to ask a few questions about your blog and an upcoming trip to Houston I have planned for later this month.
thanks,
Ashley
ashley.cecil@gmail.com
From Maury Sullivan, could not find contact email:
Special Session, a KLRU Weekly Statewide Public Affairs Show Hosted by Emmy
Award-Winning Filmmaker Paul Stekler, Returns for Second Season
Austin, Texas ‹ KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, in association with Midnight Films,
announces the return of the statewide series, Special Session, hosted by
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and University of Texas Radio-Television-Film
Professor Paul Stekler. The series debuts at Sunday, February 4, at 11 a.m.
on Texas PBS stations (check local listings).
Each week, journalists, politicos and other notable Texans take on the
issues and politics confronting this year¹s 80th session of the Texas
Legislature in this Lone Star Emmy-nominated half-hour series. Special
Session will air on PBS stations in Amarillo, Austin, College Station,
Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Lubbock, San Antonio and Waco. In
Austin, Special Session will air Sundays at 11 a.m. on KLRU and Wednesdays
at 9:30 p.m. on KLRU2.
Produced in Austin, Special Session will interweave documentary and
discussion to stay one step ahead of the legislation destined to affect our
lives long after the legislators head home. The first month¹s programs will
feature a look back at the late Gov. Ann Richards (including a short
documentary using never-seen-before footage), former state Comptroller John
Sharp looking back on the school finance plan he helped pass last year, and
the impact of human service cuts across Texas.
³Getting the chance to cover a session of the Texas Legislature again, in a
series like Special Session, is a political junkie¹s dream,² said Stekler
whose credits include ³Last Man Standing² and ³George Wallace: Settin¹ the
Woods on Fire.² ³We get to cover issues in-depth, travel around Texas, talk
to some of the most interesting political observers in the state, and keep
current, with a show to air every week for the duration of the session. It¹s
also a real challenge, something very different than producing long form
documentaries.²
Special Session is one of several locally produced, award winning programs
that KLRU airs. ³KLRU is really excited to be able to work again with Paul
and his team of nationally recognized filmmakers to create a show about one
of the most interesting political arenas in the country,² said Bill
Stotesbery, CEO and General Manager of KLRU.
Each week Special Session will tackle one of the state¹s most pressing
issues. The show will also feature a look at the media, Lobby and those who
make the Legislature work from Stekler¹s unique perspective.
For more information about Special Session, visit klru.org/specialsession.
Each episode will be available for video-streaming at that site after its
broadcast.
Special Session is a production of KLRU in association with Midnight Films.
Funding for Special Session is provided in part by the Bernard and Audre
Rapoport Foundation, Public Strategies Inc., The Meredith Family Foundation
and the Nowlin Family Fund at the Austin Community Foundation. Additional
support is provided by Garrett and Cecilia Boone.
ABOUT Special Session Production Team:
Paul Stekler (Host/Executive Producer) has produced many of PBS¹s most
honored documentaries on American politics including ³George Wallace:
Settin¹ the Woods on Fire² (Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film
Festival), ³Last Man Standing: Politics, Texas Style,² ³Vote for Me:
Politics in America,² and ³Louisiana Boys: Raised on Politics.² His films
have won numerous Emmys, Peabodys, and DuPont-Columbia Journalism Awards.
Dr. Stekler is also the Director of the LBJ School¹s new Center on Politics
and Governance.
Diane Zander (Series Producer) is an Emmy Award winner for her work on the
Chicago PBS documentary Moving Stories. She makes documentaries while
teaching media production at the University of Texas at Austin. Her latest
documentary, ³Girl Wrestler,² was broadcast nationally on PBS¹s ³Independent
Lens.² A summa cum laude graduate of Northwestern University, she received
her MFA in film and video production at the University of Texas.
Megan Field (Series Producer) most recently did independent producing and
research for ³Frontline¹s The Choice,² while also working on a film on the
Bush family for German ARD-TV, which aired in France, Germany, Austria and
Switzerland. Megan was the associate producer and assistant editor on ³Last
Man Standing.² Previously, she served two years as the Co-Conference
Director of the Austin Film Festival. She is a graduate of the
Radio-Television-Film program at the University of Texas.
Sandra Guardado (Series Editor) won an Emmy for her work on ³George Wallace:
Settin¹ the Woods on Fire.² She was the Editor and Co-Producer on ³Last Man
Standing: Politics, Texas Style.² She is also an editor on a new series
entitled State of Tomorrow about higher education and innovation set to air
statewide in Texas starting in February.
Deborah Eve Lewis (Series Cinematographer) has shoot all of Paul Stekler¹s
recent films, including ³Last Man Standing² and ³Spit Farther!.² Their next
project is a feature length documentary about the late Governor Ann
Richards. Her last narrative feature, ³Afraid of Everything,² premiered at
the Sundance Film Festival.
About KLRU
KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, reflects, celebrates and inspires Central Texas through
creative excellence,community engagement and lifelong learning. Although
primarily a television station providing locally produced and quality
national programming, KLRU is also a non-profit organization helping to
build a stronger community through educational workshops, community outreach
projects and public events. Get more information about KLRU at klru.org.
###
Texas Liberal… love your posts. Thanks for the link in your blogroll. Stay liberal and proud!
Hi, I was browsing WP blogs, and I just wanted to stop by and say I enjoy yours and I added it to my blogroll. I write for Houstonist, which you should check out if you haven’t already.
Texas Liberal: “I’m committed to advancing liberalism in Houston, in Texas, and across the nation. My blog will speak to that goal.” Of course, if that goal is reached, a lot of people with divergent views will be quite discontened. Of course, that should not dissuade you from holding and advancing your views, but I am curious to know your thought process concerning the people that disagree with you: how they and their feelings should be handled in your opinion. The reason is that the conservative movement in this country exists almost entirely as a backlash against the liberal advances made from the Franklin Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson administrations. The conservative movement has no real ideas of its own, but rather was created by the failure - or should I say unwillingness - of the left to acknowledge and deal with dissent. (This is ironic because the left that prides itself on being the dissenters that challenge the status quo actually does an even worse job of listening to opposing views when THEY are the status quo, and the best example of this is our university campuses.)
Realize that where the left has a broad based agenda based on a consistent ideology, the conservative opposition is actually a loosely organized band of gripers, most of whom oppose the left because of a single issue or at most a few of them, whether it be guns, illegal immigration, abortion, private property rights, safety (whether it be national security, defense or law enforcement), etc. The liberal strategy (where they have a strategy that does not involve calling the other side uneducated bigots that do not even deserve representation or a voice in the process) is usually limited to trying to cherry pick an issue and then creating the appearance of trying to address it. I will grant you that the right does the same, but what else are they going to do: they have no issues or ideas! While I understand that some things are not negotiable, the abject persistent failure of the side that actually has an agenda to come up with something real that would satisfy these people is not so much a failure as it is a refusal. It may not be that the left itself does not like the other side, but it is definitely the case that individual members of the various groups of the left do not like members of the various groups that oppose the left. To be quite honest: some of these civil rights types just plain flat out don’t like white people. Some feminists just plain don’t like men. And all one has to do is look at the controversy over John Edwards hiring Amanda Marcotte to see that some secularists just plain don’t like religious people. In that respect, the bigots on the left are just as big an impediment to us coming together and solving our problems as those on the right are, because asking a Christian to vote for John Edwards after he hired a woman who said “What if Mary had taken the morning after pill after God impregnated her with his hot sticky Holy Spirit?” is akin to asking a black person to vote for Ronald Reagan after he kicked off his presidential campaign with a pro - states rights speech in the same Missisippi town where Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney civil rights workers were murdered. Saying that “well, if a person really cares about what the Bible says about the poor they wouldn’t care about such a thing” doesn’t cut it, because 1) who are you to tell someone what they can or cannot be offended by and 2) why should such a person believe that John Edwards takes seriously what the Bible says about caring for the poor when he doesn’t take seriously what the Bible says about blasphemy? Unless the thought process with the left changes regarding the people on the other side, your goal will be achieved only long enough for the other side to get angry enough to push back. And please remember that even though the current pushback is running out of steam, it is A) more due to the corruption and incompetence of the Bush administration than any merit on the part of the Democrats and B) this pushback began with the election of Nixon and is approaching its 40th year! Even now, your current situation is not as rosy as it appears. While Bush’s approval rating is 29%, Congress’ is 14%! If Congress does not get our troops out of Iraq, the Democrats will have an angry left to deal with in 2008, and if the GOP nominates the right candidate (which fortunately for your side they seem determined not to do) you could find yourself in 2008 in a worse position than you were in 2000: with a basically competent and ethical conservative President with no ties to the Bush administration elected with a clear electoral and popular vote majority, and perhaps even a Republican Congress! Even the war is a rock and a hard place. If Democrats don’t stop the war, why should the anti - war moderates and Republicans keep supporting them? Then again, Democrats stop the war, well why should the anti - war moderates and Republicans keep supporting them? The war is very good for the Democrats while it is going on, but after it ends the same crowd: the conservatives and the veterans - will NEVER forget the antiwar Democrats just like they still haven’t forgotten Viet Nam. As big as a mess as the war is, when it ends it is going to be an even bigger mess, both in Iraq and at home. Now realize that when we left Viet Nam, the media (which was dominated by anti - war sympathies) were able to ignore the harsh fate that befell the people who were then either murdered or brutally subjugated by the Viet Cong, and that allowed them to go around patting themselves and each other on the back for the moral superiority of allowing a Soviet - backed regime to take over that nation. I am not saying that they were wrong to oppose the war, just that they were insulated from having to deal with the consequences of their position. But now that we have the Internet, talk radio, etc. the right and the military will remind the American people ad nauseum of the absolute carnage that will break out in Iraq the second that we start pulling out. And when that happens, what will you say then? That we should have left Saddam in power? That will go over real well! I am just letting you know of the challenge that the left will have when they get back into power, and wondering if you think that they will be able to meet it, or if they should even try.
Healtheland—Thank you for reading the blog and for your comment. I think conservatives have done well over the last 40 years because they do have ideas. Not great ideas and some overly simple—But it’s more than just simple reaction.
The war in Iraq is a huge mess. Nobody has a good solution. That’s why I hardly ever blog about it.
People will always say that don’t approve of Cogress.
Mr. Edwards does seem to care about the poor. To the extent that you can ever be sure about what any of them say.
I think liberals will gain when people realize they need health insurance and see that their wages are stuck for a long time.
Thank you again.
Neil:
Could find an e-mail for you so I will make my request here. Can you change your blogroll link to my blog to http://www.bluebloggin.com. I recently moved off of wordpress.com and would appreciate the correction. Thanks.
I *heart* the Texas Lib blog!!! Thank you for the Shamu answer…I knew asking twice a week would help
Hi,
Happy New Year to you and your family. Are you Andreas Viklund or Neil Aquino, Swedish or American? Can you contact me please?
Thank you
fan of this site
all people matter. the right the left the wrong. if we talk there is always a common thread that can be found. unless you are from cincinnati, cincinnatians dont matter.
Thoughts of impeachment.
On January 15 US Rep Wexler on the House Judiciary Committee which has control of whether or not impeachment hearings will take place called for them to begin. There seems to be a little up-tick in activity and interest but mostly not apparent in the mainstream. For more information about his effort: http://wexlerwantshearings.com . Why not at least have hearings?
Harry—I’ve never felt impeachment was a productive way to proceed, though I am happy to provide a forum for links to promote the idea. Please keep reading the blog and thanks for the comment.
Howdy Texas Liberal,
I’m a transplanted Texan living outside of Philadelphia. Jos76, whose blog you featured on gay marriage, turned me on to your blog. How nice to see a fellow liberal Texan. I miss accents and Mexican food, but actually enjoy shoveling snow, until I have to do it in late March.I will enjoy coming back and reading. Best regards from Philly…and yes, I am still a Cowboys fan.
Hostess–Added your blog to my blogroll. Thanks for your nice comment.