If I Register My Car For Two Years At A Time, How Will The Clerk At The County Keep Her Job?

This morning I went to the Harris County Administration building in Downtown Houston so that I could register my car.

I know you can do it online and I understand why many people might take advantage of that option.  

But I often go Downtown, and I feel that clerks at the county building need jobs.

The clerk who helped me today was very nice.

She told me I could register my car for two years if I wished.

I told her that I like to come and register the car each year so folks can have jobs.

If we don’t do business with real human beings, where will people find work?

Terrible Graduation Rates Show You Can Do Anything To The People Of Houston And Get Away With It

A new study reports that only 58.5 % of Houston-area high school freshmen graduate four years later.

Here is the Houston Chronicle story about the study. 

From the study—

“Children at Risk, a Houston-based advocacy group, commissioned the Texas Education Agency to conduct study of six-year graduation rates for the region’s 130 high schools. They learned that 53 percent of the students who begin as ninth-graders in the Houston Independent School District had not graduated from any Texas high school in six years. The combined graduation rate for the entire region’s high schools is 58.5 percent.”

This report tells me you can do anything to people in and around and Houston and get away with it. Can you imagine people tolerate this? Or take it as normal?

These type numbers exist in cities and rural areas across the country.

You’d might as well put people in camps or brand them with irons. A poor city neighborhood in this society is a camp in any case. One that Republicans ignore all the time and Democrats often only notice at election time.

( And an isolated rural area can often be a kind of more wide-open camp that Democrats ignore and Republicans often only notice at election time.)

You can’t get anywhere in this country without a high school degree. You can’t even be sure of your prospects anymore with a college degree. People should be demanding action. People should have been doing so a long time ago because these bad education numbers are longstanding.

Our Harris County sheriff, Democrat Adrian Garcia, wants Harris County to build a new jail. Yeah–Another jail. That will solve our ills.    

Please click here for my post on the subject of why people believe conspiracy theories.  I assert people often hold such views because nothing is so crazy or brutal that it can’t be true. It seems plausible enough that we as a community in Houston would be content enough with large numbers of our poor just dying off. How would it be so different from how we treat folks currently?

I’m Sorry I’m Not Able To Accept Charges On Collect Calls From Harris County Jail—Rules For Inmates Making Collect Calls From County Jail

 

 

If you are the person who called me earlier this evening from the Harris County, Texas jail asking if I was able to accept the charges on a collect call—I’m sorry that I was not able to accept such charges.

( Above–Video to Kraftwerk’s The Telephone Call.) 

I did give taking the call some thought. The recorded operator said it would cost $3.60 to accept the call. The recording did not say who was calling. All it said was that it was a collect call from the Harris County Jail.

I asked myself who I knew that might be in the county jail. While I can think of people I know that should be in jail, or that I wish were in  jail, I don’t feel I know anyone in jail at the moment.

I was somewhat curious about who was on the other end of the call.  Maybe it was a person who wished to discuss American history with me this evening. Or a person pondering the nature of redemption after the committing of misdeeds.

In the end however, my guess was that I was better off not taking the call. 

Here are rules and procedures regarding inmates in our Harris County Jail.

Here is the link to County Sheriff Adrian Garcia.

Sheriff Garcia is a Democrat elected in 2008 to replace a Republican Sheriff.

Republicans are on the run here in Harris County. Harris County is the nation’s third most populous county.  Over 3.5 million people live in Harris County.   

Republicans think they can run minority-bashing anti-urban campaigns in a majority-minority urban county. 

That plan did not work so well for Republicans in 2008. 

Below are the rules for inmates placing a collect call at the Harris County Jail—

Inmates can place collect calls to phone numbers where collect calling is not restricted. This is the most common method of placing calls from the facility. However, there are some situations where collect calls are restricted… e.g.

• The phone number has reached its credit limit for collect calls
• The owner of the phone has requested no collect calls be permitted to their number
• The phone number is assigned to a cellular phone or pager
• The phone company of the called party has restricted collect calls

Rates – Rate quotes are available to the called party at the start of each call

Process–

• Inmate dials phone number
• System determines if called number is able to receive collect calls and places or rejects the call
• Called party must positively accept the call by following the automated instructions

Immigrants In Houston & Harris County Should Be Assured That Flu-Related ER and Clinic Visits Involve No Immigration Check

With Swine Flu cases possible in Houston and Harris County, it should be made clear to our Spanish speaking population that they will be able to visit hospitals or clinics with flu symptoms and not be subject to immigration checks.

This message should be broadcast to all our immigrant communities because it is not just Spanish speaking people who are in the county without documentation.

The Swine Flu may or not become a major health problem in the United States. It should not be made worse because of political concerns that have nothing to do with the issue at hand.

Local governments in Harris County should be working with the county, state and federal government to make sure that everybody who needs help gets help, and that public health officials are able to track the spread of any Swine Flu.  

( Please click here for Swine Flu information and handwashing tips.)

If Indians Can Go The Polls While Under Attack By Maoist Rebels, Why Can’t Houston’s Hispanics Vote In Greater Numbers?

 

Even facing attack from Maoist rebels in some places, voters in India went to the polls yesterday to begin the month long process of the Indian national election. 

These attacks killed 17.

Above is a picture of women waiting to vote in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

(Please click here for an overview of the Indian election.)

Turnout in India, despite the violence and all the poverty in India, is expected to be 62% when all the votes are counted. 

Now why is it that Hispanics in Houston and Harris County can’t vote in greater numbers? What are the reasons? 

Turnout in many mostly Hispanic state legislative districts  in Harris County was between 40% and 45%  of people eligible to vote in 2008.

Where are the leaders in this important community? Where are the people?

Here is a great article from the urban planning magazine Next American City that details the history of Hispanic political activism in Houston.

When will Hispanics in Houston find the leadership that their numbers and potential merits?

Texas Voter Supression Bill & Low Minority Turnout—Twin Evils

The so-called voter ID bill now before the Texas legislature is nothing but a voter suppression bill. Voters in Texas already present a driver’s license or a voter registration card to be able to vote. (Though I was asked specifically for a driver’s license last November.)  

Under the bill, voters would now, by law, be asked in all cases for a photo ID. If you do not have one, you’ll have to come up with two forms of alternative identification.

The alleged reason behind the bill is stop voter fraud. But there is little evidence of voter fraud in Texas. The fact is that some minority and elderly voters don’t have photo Id’s and it is not always easy for them to acquire such identification.

(There is plenty of evidence that many people in Texas don’t have health insurance, but Republicans don’t see that as such an urgent concern.)

Republicans in Texas know that it is likely Democratic voters the voter suppression bill will impact.  And they know that the demographic clock is ticking in Texas politics. Sooner or later, let’s hope sooner, Republicans are going start losing statewide elections in Texas just as they are now losing elections in Harris County and Dallas County. 

Republicans can hold back the demographic realities of Texas….

Just as easily as one could hold back this wave pictured above.

However, it should not be forgotten that these issues of voter turnout are a two-way street.

In majority-minority cities and legislative districts around Texas, elected officials—most often Democrats—say little or nothing about the poor turnout that goes on year after year. Not only do they say nothing about it, they do nothing about it.

In our majority-minority state of Texas, we would not have so many elected Republicans if many probable Democrats would come out to polls on every Election Day.

It seems that many of these elected officials are content to serve in safe districts and to never have to worry about a primary challenge or an overly attentive electorate. Many elected Democrats thrive in these situations while accusing the other side of voter suppression.

We can fight against the voter suppression bill now up for debate in Austin. However, if we had our own house in order as Democrats and folks on the left side of the ideological aisle, maybe we would not be fighting this battle today.

Wife Has Jury Duty—Painting Of Bored Jury

My wife, the best person ever, has beeen assigned to a jury in our Harris County, Texas courts.

Below is the painting The Jury. This was completed in 1861 by the British artist John Morgan. 

You’ll find this painting at the Buckinghamshire Museum over in England. Below is a picture of the museum.

 

Here is some history of the American Jury System. 

From that history—

“The jury trial was a significant expression of “the consent of the governed” in American history. Among the reasons given by the signers of the Declaration of Independence to “dissolve the Political Bonds” which connected them to Great Britain was the deprivation “of the Benefits of Trial by Jury.” Trial by jury in criminal cases was incorporated into the Constitution itself, and the grand jury, the criminal petit jury, and the civil petit jury all were enumerated in the Bill of Rights.”

Light Rail In Houston And The Chimpanzee I Don’t Want To Be

It is difficult to know how to feel about the proposed extension of light rail in Houston.

(Above–Transportation in Minsk, Belarus.)

Four new lines, all in the inner loop as far I can determine, are on the table for a vote of the Metro Board in March. The cost of this project is said to be $2.6 billion. 

On one hand, I support mass transit. On the other hand, I support mass transit for all the people. Not just inside the loop.

For example, there is no bus on Highway 6 in-between 1960 and Westheimer. Yet many people live and work in this area and Highway 6 gets more busy each day.

How can we commit $ 2.6 billion for transit inside the loop without addressing all of Houston and the suburbs? (And when will all our Harris County suburbs grow up and incorporate and elect mayors and city councils and establish a police force beyond the Harris County Sheriff? Maybe these folks would get better services if they’d incorporate and find a coherent voice. )

A regional transit authority is clearly needed. Please click here to see my previous post of the likelihood of a regional transit authority in the Houston-area.

Then you have the issue of the folks on each side of the debate.

Seemingly against any extension of mass transit are folks who reflexively oppose government, hate taxes more than they value the future, and who think that if only they can stop the bus from coming their neighborhoods will be able to keep out ”undesirables.”  I have supported light rail in Houston so far because it annoys conservatives to such a degree.

On the other side of the rail debate are what are often the most annoying folks of all. Liberals that I share 90%  in common with, but that remaining 10% is a difference in sensibilities that makes me want to send a check to the National Rife Association. An inside-the-loop focus that in the end values pragmatism and order over imagination and justice. These are the kind of folks I see getting most excited over these train cars. 

( And the idea that some have of streetcars for Houston! Oh!  As it says in Ecclesiastes– ”Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities…..”  Must we spend public dollars to remake a small portion of the county in the imagined self-image of a narrow few? )

Here is part of the Phil Ochs song Love Me I’m A Liberal—

I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I’d lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I’m a liberal.

It’s like how I can’t stand chimps and monkeys. I despise them for being so like myself, yet being something I very much don’t want to be.  I don’t want to be a nasty chimp. I don’t want to be a process-orientated  liberal who gets excited about boondoggle train cars in my neck of the woods while folks out in county can’t get a ride to work. Mass transit should not be about what seems cool or neat. It should be about getting people where they need to go. 

So where do I come down on the question of light rail for Houston?

When all is said and done, I’m for it as an extension of government in a small government region and state, as a job creation project, and because of the people it frustrates. It’s not like we’ll spend the money on something useful if we don’t build the trains. As for light rail being part of a coherent transit policy for the entire region, that is not part of the debate at this point. 

Light rail, so far, seems more an inner-loop vanity and a conceit to try to turn Houston into something it is not. But since it’s opponents offer nothing more useful than more highway building and endless government bashing, I say build the damn thing and let them stew. I’m with the chimps on this one. (Because, as I  sometimes face up to, I’m one of the chimps more than I’d like to admit. It can take so much effort not to revert to a less developed state. )

Now if we want to be serious and plan for light rail across the county and region, that’s something I could be on board with.

White, Emmett & Duke Address UTMB Cuts & Houston Area Care Crisis

I was glad to see an opinion column in yesterday’s Houston Chronicle by Houston Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Executive Ed Emmett about cuts in services for the uninsured caused, in part, by Hurricane Ike damage at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.    

In their column, Mayor White and Judge Emmett , joined by the well-known Dr. Red Duke, focus less on job reductions at UTMB and the damage these layoffs will do to Galveston’s economy, though the  job losses are mentioned, and more on the need for health services to be restored for the the entire metro region.

From the opinion piece–

“Before Hurricane Ike, the upper Texas Gulf Coast was already at the center of a storm — the crisis of unreimbursed medical care provided to working people and children not covered by health insurance….After Ike decimated UTMB in Galveston, the storm surge receded but other medical institutions in the region have been flooded by the patient case load displaced from this historic, invaluable Texas asset….Both the state of Texas and counties in the upper Gulf Coast need to quickly develop a plan to restore these services with three related elements. First, funds from FEMA and insurance policies need to be available immediately to restore the medical, research and physical facilities to the capacity required before Hurricane Ike. We should let both private insurers and FEMA know that we expect prompt payment on valid claims. The UT System must make hard choices concerning the location of some clinical facilities and recognize historic ties to the island, while being convenient to customers, including more insured patients…. Second, there must be a plan for sustained funding of some portion of uncompensated care for the region served by UTMB. The Harris County Hospital District was formed over four decades ago in response to the crisis of unreimbursed care within Harris County. There should be a formula for fair funding of contributions by the counties served by UTMB in proportion to the uninsured patients served from those counties….In the longer term, leadership should consider the need for one or more hospital districts. In addition, Texas should continue its historical support for this great medical school from general funds….Third, some portion of the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for Texas should be earmarked for a program to compensate those providers who now receive the uninsured patients diverted from UTMB.”

The cuts at UTMB by the University of Texas Board of Regents are a case of kicking the little guy when he is down. The job losses in Galveston in the aftermath of Ike, and the cuts to already stretched services for the uninsured, strike at a poor area of our state, and at individual patients who for the most part lack the ability to fight back without help.

I hope the public opinions now expressed by Mayor White, Judge Emmett and Dr. Duke are just the beginning of a strong effort by elected officials and medical professionals to help restore what has been lost, and help improve what was, even before the hurricane, a difficult situation.

No Good Paul Bettencourt Keeps The Faith With His No Good Supporters

Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettencourt is leaving public office for the private sector. This even though he was reelected for a full term just last month.

Mr. Bettencourt, a Republican, could justly be called a quitter. Yet I find that in his no-good way, Mr. Bettencourt has kept the faith with his no-good core of supporters in the Harris County electorate.

Mr. Bettencourt, though our county tax collector, made his name in large part by encouraging people to challenge their property tax assessment.  Mr. Bettencourt is also responsible for maintaining the county voter rolls. Not surprisingly, in this capacity he worked hard in 2008 to purge voter rolls of a number of likely Democratic voters.

Mr. Bettencourt was not popular in some circles because he was honest or because of some unbreakable compact with the citizens of Harris County.  Mr. Bettencourt was popular with some because he appealed to their worst instincts.

This final act of contempt by Mr. Bettencourt is consistent enough with his tenure as Tax Assessor.  He kept the faith by holding the office for Republicans at least until the 2010 special election for the completion of his  term. 

Just as he was elected to do rotten deeds, Mr. Bettencourt left his office in a rotten fashion. If only politicians who promise to do good were as faithful to goodness as Mr. Bettencourt has been to rottenness.

Random Thoughts On A Time-Pressed Day

Hello blog readers. I had a plan for what I wanted to post today, but life got in the way and I’ll not have the time to do what I wanted. (Below–The sun rises and sets and time passes by.)

 

So please allow just a few random thoughts.

I wonder sometimes if the ease of keeping up with old friends via e-mail and Facebook makes it less likely we will try hard to make new friends. A new person seems a much less sure bet when the old people seem always near.

A dispute here in Harris County, Texas, where Houston is located, is about why Hispanic turnout was relatively low on Election Day. The best information I’ve seen on the subject can be found in this blog post at Para Justicia y Libertad. 

New leadership seems needed for Harris County Hispanics. The old leadership has made little progress over the years. Also, the Harris County Democratic Party is not willing to do what’s needed to gain more minority voters beyond those most easy to get to the polls. The party has an idea of the voters it is willing to try and win. What it’s not willing to do is address questions of social justice when it can rely on, with mixed success, traffic congestion and hurricane preparedness as standard campaign issues.  

I think you can find this type of situation in big cities across the nation.

I read a few days ago that the unsettled frontier democracy we associate today with Andrew Jackson, was always doomed to fall to the more middle-class and settled frontier vision of Henry Clay. We know that Jackson won the White House while Clay tried many times but failed. Yet you often never know until long after the heated battles of the day are over, as to who has really won the issues at the core of the fight.  

Sorry for the absence of links. I’m on the fly today. Thanks for reading the blog and please visit often.

Obama Urban Policy Effort

President-elect Barack Obama has created an office of urban policy. His transition web home has details on his urban policies. 

This is good news. America’s cities get worse and worse and little is said or done.

Here in Houston, where I’ve lived for ten years, and in Cincinnati, where I was once involved in local politics, county Democratic parties have long seen minority voters as people to be used on Election Day.

In the most recent election, the Harris County Democratic Party saw robocalls with Hillary Clinton asking Hispanics to turn out and vote as a GOTV effort worth discussing. There was no real focus on issues that would make a difference in people’s lives.

This new attention to urban issues from the Obama team will hopefully be a sincere effort. I guess I’ll believe it when I see it. 

What would also be of benefit to urban voters would be an Obama administration that asks as little as possible from existing minority political power structures in big cities.

For years, what we have often seen in the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, and city halls, are minority officeholders who sit in safe and often uncontested districts, don’t train a next generation of minority political leaders, and who offer an overall acquiescence to the poor conditions we often see in America’s cities.

I’m all for a President Obama who uses his muscle and support with black voters to help change American cities for the better. I hope this success will be matched by outreach to Hispanic voters and an ongoing connection to urban voters of all stripes. 

Change in our American cities is change we need.

Hispanic Turnout Low In Harris County—Turnout Overall Is Lower Than Projected

Turnout of Hispanic voters and of all voters was lower than projected in Harris County, Texas. Around 60% of eligible voters showed up at the polls or early voted. Hispanic turnout may have been as low as 40% to 45%. The 2008 turnout of all voters was only two percent higher than in 2004.   

The Houston Chronicle article on the subject addresses some theories for the relatively poor showing. You can read the article and take the theories for what they are worth. 

It’s suggested in the Chronicle article that Hispanic voters who supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary saw little reason to vote in November.  If this is so, that sure is silly. Maybe this is a nicer way of saying that the issue was not Hillary Clinton but was Barack Obama instead.

In any case, whatever the exact thinking, this shows why we’ve never had a Hispanic Congressperson from Houston or a breakthrough Hispanic political figure in Houston like a Barbara Jordan or a Mickey Leland.  

I recall during the campaign that the Chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party said the party was counting on the increased turnout in the Democratic primary to be a source of high Election Day turnout.

We criticize the national campaigns when they take potential volunteers out of state, but then we rely on the national campaigns to generate our turnout.   

Another theory is that re-registration requirements after people move within the county deters voting. The county’s chief voter registrar, Republican Paul Bettencourt, says this is not so. He says his office makes it easy for people to vote.

Sure. Mr. Bettencourt, who as our county tax assessor actively encourages people to challenge their tax assessments, is all about inclusion and doing his duty.

I think there is a bottom line here—People just did not show up to vote. In the end it really is on those people who did not vote.

But I’ll say this as well– Democrats held power in Harris County and in Austin up until the 1990’s. It’s not clear that these Democrats made any real effort to improve the lives of urban and minority voters.

In 2008, the focus of countywide Democratic candidates in Harris County for the most part was traffic, hurricane related issues and Republican misdeeds. These are not issues meant to dig deep down in our county and excite people who do not normally vote.  

In our city council elections, the Democratic Party refuses to make endorsements under the claim the races are non-partisan. Well–the races may be non-partisan on the ballot. But parties can endorse. Parties endorse in so-called non-partisan city elections in other parts of the country. Our Harris County Democratic Party appears to have little interest in taking advantage of the Democratic voting majority in Houston.

It seems sometimes that our Hispanic community in Houston does not see a value in taking political leadership equal to its numbers and that the Harris County Democratic Party is content enough with low turnout and with an electorate that asks little beyond garbage pick-up and traffic relief.

Texas Liberal Election Predictions

Here are my Texas Liberal election predictions. Please take them to the bank. They are certain to be correct.

President— Senator Obama will win 52.0% of the vote. Senator McCain will win 46.8%. 1.2% will go third party candidates. I don’t know what the final electoral vote count will be, but Mr. Obama will have at least the 270 needed for victory. That’s good enough.

Once in the voting booth, some of our fellow Americans, though not enough to shift the outcome, will have “second thoughts” about Mr. Obama. The motivation will in part be racial, but the larger factor will just be how fully different an Obama Presidency will be from we have known in recent years. Even a bad situation, if familiar, can be comforting. 

The racists have already made up their minds against Mr. Obama. But the good thing is that some racists will vote for Senator Obama and some of these people will see the world in a new way after Mr. Obama is President.

We all have room to grow. 

What will carry the the day for Mr. Obama will be increased turnout of black voters and young people. I don’t feel polls have captured these voters well. There are so many black folks who have just sat elections out over the years.

With the election of Mr. Obama we will be, for the time being at least, emancipated from the post 9/11 era of fear based politics. America’s political majority will be a multi-racial coalition of people who have hope for a decent future. 

That’s the side that I want to be on!

United States Senate—I predict 58 Democrats and 42 Republicans. Then 57 Democrats after Election Day when we do what is right and kick Joe Lieberman out of the Democratic caucus. This would be an overall gain of 7. 

I sure hope that Al Franken beats Norm Coleman in Minnesota. The Idea of Mr. Coleman sitting in Paul Wellstone’s seat just makes me sick.

United States House—I see a Democratic gain of 24 for a 257-178 Democratic Majority.

Here in Houston, Nick Lampson and Michael Skelly will lose their House races. Local Democrats will say how sad that all is, but in fact many Democrats will bid both men a hearty good riddance. Mr. Skelly’s campaign in particular has exceeded what is needed to win a Republican district. Is it really so that liberals are unlikely to be successful business people? As for Mr. Lampson, he got his two extra years in Congress and now he can pay his karmic debt for his terrible 2006 campaign. 

In my other hometown of Cincinnati, my parents will still be afflicted with Mean Jean Schmidt as their Congressperson, However, across town, increased black turnout is going to finally, after all these years, nail Steve Chabot. I don’t feel that my parents should move across town to live in the Democratic district. Maybe they could just drive over there every so often. 

Texas—Democrats will win back the Texas House, but fail to have a working majority because they refuse to move Texas into the 20th-century with a party-based majority system. Freelance House Democrats will hold out on the vote for Speaker to see who offers the best deal. Some will support a Republican for Speaker. The public will lose out and I’ll say I told you so.

Harris County, Texas—Democrats will win all offices but for County Judge Executive. They will win back the judgeships.  

The first thing I’ll be looking for is major reforms of how we conduct the death penalty in Harris County. Hopefully, the new District Attorney will pursue a course far less bloodthirsty and barbaric from what we have seen from the seemingly inhuman men who have been elected to this office in the ten years I’ve lived in Houston.

It will be up to rank-and-file Democrats and all people of Harris County to see that the new Democrats in Harris County office really represent a change. There is more to our county than traffic and hurricanes. There are many people who need help from government.

Urban voters are used by Democrats all the time. The switch to Democrats in Harris County reflects demographic trends, high turnout for Mr. Obama, and campaign money that flowed on in from big donors when it seemed likely Democrats could win the county. It is not some grassroots rebellion.

They’ll use us if we let them. Let us remain vigilant and make life better in our county.   

For those opposed to my views this Election Day, I offer nothing but the back of my hand. For those on my side of the aisle, let’s hope that this time the wheel lands on our number.