In Addition To Ballot Access Troubles, Linda Yanez Offers Nothing For League Of Women Voters Guide

I have the League of Women Voter’s of the Houston Area guide for the Texas primary.

I picked it up at my local supermarket.

You can also click here to see what it says. It’s the red lettering that says Voter Guide March 2008 in the box to the left.

I see that Supreme Court candidate Linda Yanez did not respond for inclusion to the guide.

This seems a pattern with her problems in securing ballot access for the primary.

I’ve written a post saying that a vote for either Judge Yanez or Judge Susan Criss would make sense in the primary.

But I sure do wonder now about the basic competence of the Yanez campaign.

Please click here for other Texas Liberal posts on the Texas Primary.

Dale Henry For Texas Railroad Commission

I’m going to vote for Dale Henry for Texas Railroad Commissioner in the March 4 Democratic primary.

Update—Mr. Henry is now in the runoff for this position. His opponent is Mark Thompson. Mr. Thompson was a very surprising first place finisher on March 4.  But he did not reach the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. Mr. Thompson has not voted since 1996. And in that year he voted in the Republican primary. My endorsement of Mr. Henry stands and I ask that you please click here to review his campaign web page. 

Mr Henry is running against Art Hall of San Antonio.

I’ve spent the last half hour studying this matter.  

Bottom line—

Mr. Henry is more knowledgeable on issues relating to the Texas Railroad Commission.

Mr. Hall may prove to be the stronger candidate. 

You could go around forever on this stuff. There is no clear call.

I don’t know anything about pipelines and saltwater injection wells.

This is what the commission is involved with–Not railroads. Please click here to see the purpose of the Texas Railroad Commission.

Mr. Henry lists these saltwater injection wells as a leading issue.

My thought was–What the hell is that?

Here is some information about what these wells are.  

Here is the web page for Mr. Henry. 

Here is the web page for Mr. Hall.

 I see that Mr. Hall is a member of the board of the Alamo Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Has Mr. Hall done anything in that position to encourage the Boy Scouts to end the bigoted position of not allowing gay kids to join?   

No doubt Mr. Hall can come up to speed on policy if elected. Though Mr. Henry does seem well-informed.  It’s just that I as I looked at these two men this morning, I felt Mr. Hall is the type who racks up insider endorsements and connections.

I’m sure Mr. Hall has strong beliefs on many subjects, but in the end his North Star may prove to be his connections and his ambitions.  

If Mr. Hall wins the primary, I’ll vote for him in November.

Next Tuesday however, I’ll for vote for insight and experience offered by Dale Henry.

Please click here for other Texas Liberal posts on the Texas primary. 

Obama Ads During That ’70’s Show Reruns Further Cement My Support

 

There were maybe seven or eight Obama for President ads for the Texas primary during the That 70’s Show reruns I watched last night.

This was between 11 PM and midnight.

No Hillary ads.

Mrs. Clinton had no interest in subsidizing my entertainment by buying an ad during one of my favorite programs.

It seems clear who wants my vote and who does not care.

I have a right to be entertained.

What did the Obama ads say?

I don’t know. I don’t pay much attention to commercials.

I just know they were on and that they were for a candidate I like during a show I like. 

Think about this stuff all the time and you’ll lose your mind.   

Please click this link for the Obama campaign.

Here is the link for That ’70’s Show. 

I Went To A Political Fundraiser This Evening

I went to a political fundraiser here in Houston this evening.

That’s something I rarely do.

This will shock you—But sometimes people at political fundraisers want something.

Really.

They want access and favors.

Really.

I was involved in politics for 8 years in Cincinnati, but I retain few relationships from my time spent in politics.

I don’t find always find political conversation interesting and I was never fully comfortable around the kind of people you meet in politics.       

Much political conversation is transient. You talk about things that are stale within days or even hours of the discussion.

You have enough of these conversations and you find you’ve used up all your time. 

The grave will be waiting to claim you.

( Look at this gravedigger below. He does not care who he is burying.)  

Politics is a trade very much invested in the here-and-now.

I do better with the past.

Without context we hardly exist.

(Please click here for Texas Liberal political history posts. I’ve only just begun these posts for the 2008 campaign.) 

I went to this fundraiser because I’ve become friends with the candidate.

She is an officeholder here in Harris County, Texas.

The event was held at a restaurant bar.

(Below is a picture of the establishment.)

 

 I found a corner, sat down and took out a magazine.

Talk to people?

Ha! 

Here’s what I was reading—

My friend spotted me and we talked for a few minutes.

Mission accomplished.

I went home.

Decide What In Life You Have The Ability And The Resources To Influence

Decide on what sphere–narrow or broad–you can influence with your knowledge and beliefs.  

You may be able to make the difference among a few friends, with family, within a neighborhood or city, or for the entire country or world.

Determine the trade-offs and the extent of your abilities, ambition, resources and time.  

I Kept Waiting For Debate On CNN—Got Larry King & Valerie Bertinelli Instead

I was pretty sure there was a debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama this evening.

I got home from work around 7:30 and put on CNN.

No debate was on.

The wife was late because she had a work-related event to attend.

(Yeah–Another office toga party for the wife.) 

I was all by myself.

I made a bowl of cream of mushroom soup for dinner.

(Here is link to American Mushroom Institute)

I sat at the computer pissing away more of my life working on this blog.

The computer and the TV are in separate rooms.

I figured the debate would come on at 8.

Instead, Larry King came on with an interview of Valerie Bertinelli.

I thought to myself—“Is the debate on some other channel? Do I have to get up and flip channels?”

I did get up–But only to get a Hostess Cupcake I had bought on a 59 cent special offer. I think I had to buy a 140 ounce slushy to get such a good deal on the cupcakes.

I was still convinced a debate was on tonight.

I thought about how many debates have already been held and how I did not really need to see another one.

I picked up a book and ate my cupcake.

The debate was on MSNBC as it turned out.

As much as you may care about politics, can you really watch all this crap day-after-day? I can’t.

It’s a campaign/entertainment industry. 

Did you know the spray from waves can make a rainbow?

   

Photo Of Plainfield, Vermont Town Hall—Where The People Of Plainfield Vote

Above is a picture of the Town Hall in Plainfield, Vermont. This is where my Cousin Kim will be voting in the Vermont primary next week.  

Kim took the photo.

Look at that building–Right out of a movie studio. 

Here is a history of Plainfield, Vermont.

The 2000 population of Plainfield was 1286.

Here are some facts about Plainfield.

Tugboat Photos/Aristotle’s Golden Mean

Here is a picture of a little tugboat—

 

Here is a picture of a big tugboat—

 

Somewhere in-between the size of these two tugboats is Aristotle’s Concept of the Golden Mean as described below–

Aristotle's Concept of the Golden Mean
-- Defect --	BALANCE	+ Excess +
cowardice	COURAGE	rashness
stinginess	LIBERALITY	extravangance
sloth	AMBITION	greed
humility	MODESTY	pride
secrecy	HONESTY	loquacity
moroseness	GOOD HUMOR	buffoonery
quarrelsomeness	FRIENDSHIP	flattery
self-indulgence	TEMPERANCE	insensibility
apathy	EQUANIMITY	irascibility
Hamlet’s Indecisiveness	Atticus’ SELF CONTROL	Don Quixote’s Impulsiveness

Here is an introduction to Aristotle. 

Last Night I Listened To Pete Shelley’s Homosapien

Last night I listened to Homosapien by Pete Shelley.

I enjoy the title track of this album.

Pete Shelley is the singer for the Buzzcocks. The album I was listening to last night was a solo release by Mr. Shelley.

Here is the link for the Buzzcocks.

Here is what it says about this song in Rip It Up And Start Again–Postpunk 1978-1984 by Simon Reynolds—

“…. a transitional hybrid of guitar based New Wave and electropop, heard at its best on the superb single Homosapien. Released in August 1981, “Homosapien” was a coded coming-out for Shelley. The single’s innuendos—the fruity way Shelley enunciated “homosapien,” plus couplets like “homo superior/my interior”–provoked an unofficial ban on Radio One.” 

Here is a link for Pete Shelley.

Here is the link to the BBC’s Radio One. 

Do I listen to anything recorded in the last 20 years?

I do buy releases by Interpol as well as by the Chemical Brothers.

Ideology is Essential To Democracy

Ideology is essential to democracy. There must be competing ideas for people to choose between. 

However, ideologies should not be adhered to so rigidly as to prevent action.

Strict adherence to an ideology makes one incoherent and unlikeable.

At their best, ideologies provide a loose but solid and necessary framework for seeing the world.    

Copley’s Portrait Of Paul Revere

 

This is Portrait of Paul Revere by John Singleton Copley from 1768.

Paul Revere lived 1734-1818.

Here is how this painting is described in the book American Art and Architecture by Michael J. Lewis—

“Here was a new kind of painting. Instead of aristocratic subjects in settings of leisure, Copley portrayed merchants and artisans who were not ashamed of their status or their manual labor—Aristocrats of commerce. Revere holds one of his silver teapots in one hand as he prepares to incise it with decoration while the other holds his head, as if to suggest that he earns his livelihood by both his hands and his head.”  

Here is information on Paul Revere.

Despite this painting, Copley was no friend of the American Revolution. He left America in 1774 and settled in London.

Click here for some information on Copley. Take a look at his self-portrait—Just seeing it will clue you in on his feelings about the revolution.   

Please click here for other Texas Liberal posts on Colonial America.

Women’s Movement A Product Of Hope And Imagination, Yet Mrs. Clinton Makes Fun Of These Things

The women’s movement, like all civil rights movements, was first of all the hope that life could be better for women in America and elsewhere in the world.

(Photo above of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.)

All human rights movements start off as hope and imagination.

It takes a lot of hard work to bring about meaningful change, but it starts off as hope and imagination

Here is what Hillary Clinton, a beneficiary of the woman’s movement, said today while campaigning in Providence, Rhode Island.

“Now I could stand up here and say, let’s get everybody together, let’s get unified the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing,” she said, to a smattering of giggles. “And everyone will know we should do the right thing, and the world will be perfect.”    

What a lousy thing for Mrs. Clinton to say. 

Why be a liberal if you can’t hope something better without being made fun of by someone on your own side of the aisle? 

If People Are Not Interested In Their Political Freedom….

If people are not interested in their political freedom, it’s certain that whatever they are interested in instead, such as entertainment, will be provided at the expense of their rights and at the expense of democracy.

NAFTA Not To Blame For Blue Collar Workers Voting Republican Or Kids Not Studying

Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton are running away from any notion that they once supported NAFTA.

They are criticizing various trade agreements with other nations.

Underlying this is the fear that American workers have that living standards are declining.

As they are.

Would it do any good to remind many working people how often they have based their votes on appeals to racism and on who would best protect their right to own many guns?

I suppose it would not.

However, one thing the candidates could tell blue collar workers and other working people, is that their kids need to put away the video games and turn off the cell phone and go study.

We could tell these people the truth about how rough the future is going to be instead of blaming people in some other country.

Both parties share the blame for selling average people down the river on a variety of fronts when it comes to wages and job security. Yet one gets the sense that many parents have little idea of just what it will take to make their kids competitive for good jobs.

You can’t blame NAFTA for that.

Pythons, Helped By Global Warming, To Colonize Large Portion Of Nation

What kind of people keep exotic pets?

Screwballs–That’s who keeps exotic pets.

Lions, giraffes, piranhas–Can you imagine this stuff is allowed?

Read this story on the website of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game about people who keep exotic pets.  

People in Alaska are keeping emus, tigers, monkeys and bears. 

I’m not making this up.  

Here is a USA Today article about the prospect of pythons, aided by global warming, colonizing the lower third of the United States by the year 2100.

From the article—

As climate change warms the nation, giant Burmese pythons could colonize one-third of the USA, from San Francisco across the Southwest, Texas and the South and up north along the Virginia coast, according to U.S. Geological Survey maps released Wednesday.

The pythons can be 20 feet long and 250 pounds. They are highly adaptable to new environments.

Burmese pythons were introduced to the USA as part of the pet trade. The first specimens in the wild were discovered in the mid-1990s in the Florida Everglades, released by owners who no longer wanted them…

By 2003, there was evidence the snakes had established breeding colonies in the wild…

The Burmese python is not poisonous and not considered a danger to humans. Attacks on humans have involved pet owners who mishandle and misfeed the snakes, Snow says. In Florida, they eat bobcats, deer, alligators, raccoons, cats, rats, rabbits, muskrats, possum, mice, ducks, egrets, herons and song birds. They grab with their mouth to anchor the prey, then coil around the animal and crush it to death before eating it whole.

If you see one, don’t attempt to engage it. Leave the area, note the location and notify the authorities.

I hope these snakes take over the whole damned country. We can live under the rule of snakes in a hot zone of weird creatures and screwball people. 

Here is some information about pythons.

Here is infomation about global warming.