I’m Donating 25 Cents to Amnesty International For Every Negative E-Mail From Houston Mayoral Candidates Ben Hall And Annise Parker

My latest post on my new blog All People Have Value is about how I will be donating 25 cents to Amnesty International for every negative e-mail I get from Ben Hall and Annise Parker in the ongoing campaign for Mayor of Houston.

We don’t need to accept a big money negative campaign from these two candidates. There are real issues of poverty and basic social justice that need to be discussed in our Great City of Houston.

All People Have Value is found on my new website NeilAquino.com. 

Please check out the new blog and the new site. Please feel free to offer your opinions and suggestions for the new site.

Thank you.

Testing Testing Testing

I’ll be in Los Angeles soon on vacation. I’d like to make some posts from Los Angeles with the WordPress app on my phone. It has been a few months since I used this app and this post is a test.

The picture is of Houston Mayor Annise Parker from the monthly blogger lunch today.

Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.

Fall Of Man Into Tusks Of Evil Laughing Wolly Mammoth

Above is a picture I took last week at the Morian Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

In this picture it appears that a person is falling into the tusks of an evil laughing Woolly Mammoth.

I’m not certain that this image was the intent of the folks who desgined the exhibit, but I have to commend the result in any event.

I’d Sit Out The Alvarado-Garcia Texas Senate District 6 Race Because It Offers No Hopeful Options—Should We Cast A Ballot For Mayor Of Houston In 2013?

As far as I recall, I’ve voted in every election since I turned 18. But I would sit it out if I could vote in the Texas State Senate district 6 runoff between Democrats Carol Alvarado and Sylvia Garcia. This is a Houston-based district.

(Above–A picture I took of Sylvia Garcia at a function late last year.)

There is little ideological or policy difference between the two, both campaigns are captive to special interest money, the campaign has been relentlessly negative, and turnout will be so low as to delegitimize the process. While ultimate responsibility lies with the electorate, it is also so that what voting will accomplish in this case is to legitimize a process that offers no real options.

As I think out my new blog on 2013 Houston city politics, one question I want to explore is why should people vote in 2013?  What potentially more hopeful and useful actions can we take to help direct the course of our city?

While I suppose I’ll find at least one race that compels me to vote for whatever reason, I did in fact leave my ballot blank for Mayor of Houston in 2011.

Even with the understanding that I am just one person of 2.1 million in Houston and that I can’t always have my way, no candidate came even approximately close to my views and Mayor Parker had no credible opposition in any case.

Turnout in 2011 was something like 14%. The process has no relevance to most people. Our political leaders and the big donors who direct them are just fine with this fact.

If Ben Hall and Mayor Parker-Both Democrats-pander to the right, practice identity politics to the exclusion of substance, ignore the needs of the poor, and offer no new vision–Then why should we care who wins?

The work of freedom is up to each of us. It is past time that we take up this obligation in a serious and more imaginative way.

(My comrade Perry Dorrell has been writing about this race at his great blog Brains & Eggs. Here is the most recent post on the SD 6 race by Charles Kuffner at Off The Kuff. And here is the most recent Garcia-Alvarado post by Stace Medellin at Dos Cantavos.)  

Picture Of Friendly Mini-Horses—Still Working On New Website

Above you see a picture I took of friendly mini-horses a few hours ago at Bear Creek Pioneers Park here in Harris County, Texas.

In this picture you see that these mini-horses are talkng to each other about fun games they would like to play.

Here are facts about mini-horses.

Though I’ve not been around here on Texas Liberal as much as late, I am working on a new website that I plan to have up and running in April.

This new website will have a photo essay of a kind, a metaphoric universe and solar system, some poems, and a blog about the 2013 City of Houston elections.

There will also be other things on the website that I have not yet thought about.

Thanks to everybody still checking out the blog from time-to-time and thanks to folks visiting the blog for the first time. I’ll still be posting on Texas Liberal off and on until the new site is published.

Wayne Dolcefino At Houston City Hall—Mr. Dolcefino Is No Sam Houston

I think I caught former Channel 13 investigative reporter Wayne Dolcefino a little bit by surprise under this picture of our father Sam Houston recently at Houston City Hall.

Mr. Dolcefino is currently employed doing opposition research on Houston Mayor Annise Parker for her opponent Ben Hall.

I Hope That Houston Mayoral Candidate Ben Hall’s Misspelling Of The Word “Government” Is Not Indicative Of A Hostility To The Common Good

When I have my new website up and running this April, one part of the effort will be a blog about the 2013 Houston municipal elections.

Every so often along the way to that new site, I’ll have updates here at Texas Liberal.

Attorney Ben Hall is running for Mayor of Houston against incumbent Annise Parker.

Here is Mr. Hall’s Facebook page.

Above you see Mr. Hall discussing his agenda of education and safety for the people of Houston.

Who could argue with any of that?

While we all make mistakes—I make them all the time—I do note that Mr. Hall has above misspelled the word “government.”

I hope this misspelling is not indicative of an aversion of some kind on the part of Mr. Hall to the helpful role that government can play in the lives of our citizens.

If I were simply basing my vote on the entertainment value of the candidates, I would have to give Mr. Hall the early edge.

However, what I’ll be looking for in the months ahead is any real sign that a liberal could support Mayor Parker, Mr. Hall, or some other candidate who makes the race.

Election Day 2013 is Tuesday, November 5th. 

(Blogger’s Note 2/14/13–In the first version of this post that I put on-line, I made the exact same error as did Mr. Hall.  A difference though is that I am not running for anything. We are all flawed. The good news is that Mr. Hall has many months ahead to show that he offers something to liberal voters in Houston.)

Young People Marching Off As If To War At King Parade

I believe Martin Luther King would have been sad to see young people marching as if off to war at a parade in his honor. This picture is from the MLK parade in Houston last week.

These are young people involved with the R.O.T.C. I have no problem with kids trying to do well in a tough world.

But can’t we imagine and create a more hopeful society? I did not see marching groups of academic or vocational standouts at this parade.

It would just take a little thought and action to offer something better for our people and for ourselves.

Here is my Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List.

Narrow Houston Street—Thinking Stuff Out

Here is a narrow street here in Houston that I came across a few days ago.

You might not equate such a narrow and old street with our sprawling and perpetually new city.

And yet there is indeed such a street in Houston.

My posts have been brief of late as I work on a new web site and think things out about how I want to proceed.

Thank you for reading Texas Liberal.

Droopy Palm Tree At Intersection In Houston

 

Here is a droopy palm tree at sunset at an intersection here in Houston.

Gandhi At Houston Martin Luther King Day Parade

Here is Gandhi marching at the Martin Luther King Parade I attended here in Houston on King Day.

Here is a brief biography of Gandhi. 

Here is the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence at the University of Rochester. 

Here is my Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List.

The Same Good Folks Over Time At Our Nation’s Race Tracks

I’m convinced that racetrack crowds are the very same people holographically transmitted or somehow beamed over time & space.

These good folks at I saw at Sam Houston Race Park here is Houston two nights ago are the exact same folks I saw at Narragansett Park in Rhode Island in the 70’s & at River Downs in Cincinnati in the 80’s & 90’s.

There is an atmosphere of apathy and rest at racetracks that I’ve long found helpful to my state of mind.

Houston 2013 Martin Luther King Day Events—Let’s Have The Honor Roll March With Books In Hand Instead Of The ROTC With Rifles

Martin Luther King Day for 2013 will be Monday, January 21 2013.

(Above–A picture I took at an MLK parade in Houston in 2011.)

What 2013 Martin Luther King Day events will be taking place in the Houston area?

Here are some listings—-

The big parade will be the Martin Luther King Grande Parade which begins at 10 AM on King Day.

Here is the web site for this parade.

Here is how the parade route is described on the web site— Originate In Mid-Town @ San Jacinto St & Elgin Street N/B On San Jacinto To Webster St.

There are two King parades in Houston each year. The folks who organize the parades have long been in a dispute that reflects no credit on anybody. The parade I have linked to above is the larger of the two parades and is the one  I go to each year.

While this is the best of the two King parades, a yearly disappointment is the participation of school ROTC groups displaying fake rifles at the parade. I have no problem with the young people who take part in the ROTC. But the fact is that King hated war and would have been sad to see young people with weapons—fake or otherwise—at a parade in his honor. It would just take some imagination and new thought to have honor roll and other academic and vocational standouts march in the parade instead of young people brandishing arms in celebration of a man of peace.

Another event in Houston that will mark King Day will be held at noon at the Children’s Museum of Houston.

There will be a Peace Day rally at the Children’s Museum along with a choir, oratorical events and other activities.

Houston radio station KROI has a list of King events for Martin Luther King Day weekend. They list the other King parade which also begins at 10 AM. That they don’t list both parades is maybe evidence of the ongoing contention between the parade organizers. Also frustrating  is that both of these parades begin at 10 AM. Why not have them at different times for people who would like to see both events?

Here is a King Weekend event at Rice University—

“The Rice Black Student Association will hold its annual candlelight vigil and program Jan. 20. The outdoor vigil will begin at 7 p.m. in Rice Memorial Center’s Ray Courtyard, followed by a program at Rice Memorial Chapel.” 

The Houston Public Library will having events marking King Day.

Here is an event taking place in Galveston on Sunday, January 20—

“Galveston Historical Foundation’s African American Heritage Committee and Old Central Cultural Center, Inc. will honor winners of their annual essay contest at 3 p.m., Sunday, January 20th at Old Central Community Center, 2627 Avenue M. The event is free and open to the public with a complimentary lunch provided to attendees by Clary’”

Here is my 2013 Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. It is the best such resource on the web.

If there are events in the Houston area that I have missed, please leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add them to this list.

A Big Yard Makes For Healthy Infrastructure

With this nice big yard to run around and play in and grow strong, I’m certain these concrete tubes will one day be ready to be part of a significant piece of infrastructure here in Houston.

Instead of Being Dumped, Ideas And Things Of Value Should Be Treated With Regard

Above are some Christmas Trees I saw in Houston a few days ago.

Surely it is so that our feelings about Christmas and about holiday traditions merit more than just tossing these trees out into the dump.

These trees could have been composted.

Ideas and things that have value to us should be treated with respect.

This is true of Christmas Trees and of so many things.