Local Texas Elections Today

In many Texas communities go find your precinct and vote for some local issues and candidates if you didn't early vote. Local issues often hit your pocketbook and your quality of life. Taking it back begins at the local level in your neighborhood.

In Harris County go to HarrisVotes.com for your voting location. I had to tell my parents it was not at their normal location.

My earlier Early Voting Political News Roundup is still valid except I decided I liked Phillip Hoot and John Black in La Porte.

I still like the San Jac College bond issue despite thinking they should give regular non-Senior Citizens a much bigger homestead exemption. The local high schools now have better science and vocational-technical facilities then some at the college campuses. Paying for better educational institutions raises your community quality and brings better jobs.

Some free voting advice. Don't vote for any race where you don't know a single fact about them. Try to know at least one candidate in races you vote in. In partisan races they provide a clue but don't count on it all the time. Don't use numerology or astrology to choose a candidate, unless you really believe in that stuff. Don't vote on a name or gender or what you think is their race if you know nothing about the person. You may be unpleasantly surprised. Start being a good citizen and get informed. My free advice and worth every penny.

Tags: local, Texas, elections Gary Permalink on 5/10/2008

Ah Houston

I seem to get comments and emails from these people.

Maybe she is really a little old jingoist mispeller from Pasadena?

Gary Permalink on 5/08/2008

The Empire Strikes Barack



From Mike Carden. Gary Permalink on 5/08/2008

Join The War On Greed

See how the buyout artists don't pay their fair share of taxes.

How is it possible for us to be entering a recession while buyout billionaires like Henry Kravis saved $96 million through tax loopholes in 2006 alone? That's just one buyout billionaire, in one year, making use of one loophole!

Buyout industry executives with multi-million dollar incomes have been amassing fortunes by exploiting a major tax loophole. Their tax privileges have robbed the public purse and placed the burden on working- and middle-class taxpayers.

Let Larry the Loophole explain it to you.

Robert Greenwald's new film and movement. He is also connected to A Dream Deferred movement. This seeks to provide undocumented students, kids, who have lived in the United States for years a way to become U.S. productive citizens.

Visit the A Dream Deferred blog.

Read about two of the students in Dallas about to be tossed out of the country after living here in Texas nearly all of their lives.

Gary Permalink on 5/07/2008

GOP Running Scared in Harris County

Yesterday a friend of mine received a push-poll aimed at smearing the Democratic judges running in Harris County. These push-polls are designed to smear opposing candidates with little interest in the poll results. Sometimes there is some interest to see which smear was most effective. To the best of her recollection here is part of the push-poll:

Last night, shortly before 9:00 p.m., I received an interesting call. The caller identified himself and stated he was doing a political survey (sorry, but I neglected to jot down the name of the polling company, but it was not a national pollster or a name I recognized). I love surveys, so I readily agreed to participate....

Are you a Democrat or a Republican?

Do you consider yourself a strong or a weak Democrat?

If you knew that the Democratic judicial candidate in Harris County had been fired from the public defender’s office, would you be More Likely, Somewhat Less Likely, Strongly Less Likely, or Totally Unlikely to vote for him/her?

If you knew that the Democratic judicial candidate in Harris County was affiliated with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and that the ACLU is fighting to reduce the age of sexual consent to 13 years of age, would you be More Likely, Somewhat Less Likely, Strongly Less Likely, or Totally Unlikely to vote for him/her?

If you knew that the Democratic judicial candidate in Harris County was receiving support from trial lawyers that file frivolous lawsuits which can cost jobs, would you be More Likely, Somewhat Less Likely, Strongly Less Likely, or Totally Unlikely to vote for him/her?

Should activist Democratic judges be restrained?

....I’ll be honest with you. I used some bad language during the course of the questioning, which dragged on for at least 15 minutes. I emphatically stated that many of the questions were "total bull s@%t."

Still, I was determined to complete the survey. I wanted to know what lies the Republicans were peddling six months before the November General Election.

This was a push poll, and they were obviously trying to sow seeds of hate and distrust for Democratic candidates. Unsuspecting or uninformed voters might have fallen for their ruse. The Republicans must really be worried about their chances in Harris County.

It is highly likely that the Texas GOP will lose the lock they have had on Harris County wide races for over a decade and to try and stop it they are going to the third leg of what they know best - fear, hate, and smears.


Gary Permalink on 5/07/2008

Victory for Obama

Hoocoodanode, my new word of the year - means who could have predicted or known among all of the highly-paid big-ego experts that.... it is often offered by so-called-experts trying to explain their failures, that Hillary Clinton had no plausible pathway to get the Presidential nomination? Very few in the media were willing to write or say that she had no chance. After last night it is obvious even to them.

w00t! w00t! w00t! In North Carolina Obama by 14%. In Indiana Hillary wins by 1% unless provisional ballots change that. In any case, it is probably a one or two delegate win for Hillary there.

Hillary needed a close race in North Carolina and an easy victory in Indiana. She didn't get it despite this being the worst weeks of the Obama campaign and her campaign feeling that she was finally connecting and clicking on all cylinders. She also didn't win despite many hard core Republicans voting for her as part of Operation Chaos.

My only worry now is that the the race will be over before I can vote at the Texas Democratic Convention June 5th. I doubt it but I expect a quieter campaign and some movement on Florida and Michigan. "Given how far she's come and how little time there is to go, I can't imagine [Clinton] drops out before the last primary," says pollster and Democratic strategist Mark Mellman in Campaigns and Elections.

The Hillary campaign is running on loans and the results last night will bring sharp questioning from her financial backers. It should also continue her slide in super-delegates and more defections of those that had declared for her last year joining those switching to Obama.

The Clintons should be considering their roles in the party and in the 2008 election with Obama the nominee.

Of the election night coverage that I watched MSNBC was the best and Fox the worst with CNN still spending huge amounts of time playing with their fancy huge hand-operated monitor screen.

Gary Permalink on 5/07/2008

Politicians - liars and crooks

OK, I have referred before to the fact that Mr. Straight-Talk Express this year has become a repeated brazen liar. He is at it again with another lie to go with his many others.

Arianna Huffington in 2000 asked McCain and his wife who they voted for and they both said they didn't vote for Bush after the smears Bush's campaign ran against them. Now McCain is denying that conversation. More on this and McCain's recent history of brazen lies here.

One thing to keep in mind was that Arianna was once the darling of the Republican Party because she really believed all of that stuff about compassionate conservatism. It took her learning firsthand from the GOP leaders that it was all a ruse to get votes that she had enough of hypocrisy and left the Grand Oil Party.

The other crooked politician portion of this post has been deleted in the interests of Democratic party unity and to avoid dissing a possible vice presidential nominee when she is down.


Gary Permalink on 5/06/2008

Is America Still Sane?



Howard Dean also attacked Fox News on Fox News Sunday.

Over half of the people entering bankruptcy did so because of medical bills. Over 70% of these people had health insurance at the beginning of their health problems - video. Our health care system is insane.

Gary Permalink on 5/05/2008

It's SuperPander Girl!

Wow, you have to read it or see it to believe it but Hillary transformed into SuperPander Girl right before our eyes.

Didn't we have enough of ignoring scientists and economists and all experts from Bush? Hillary now thinks that is a winning strategy.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good to be here.

Gas tax has become the defining issue in this primary and in North Carolina. You and Sen. John McCain called for suspending the 18.4 cent federal gas tax. Sen. [Barack] Obama calls it a gimmick. He says it's pandering. He says it won't really bring any help to consumers, and he also said this. ... What's your response? He says you're not being truthful.

CLINTON: Well, No. 1, my proposal is very different from Sen. McCain. Sen. McCain has said take off the gas tax, don't pay for it, throw us further into deficit and debt. That is not what I've proposed. What I've proposed is that the oil companies pay the gas tax instead of consumers and drivers this summer.

Now, why am I proposing this? Well, No. 1, I am absolutely convinced that these record profits of the oil companies are a result of a number of factors beyond supply and demand. I think there has been market manipulation....

We know that there's market manipulation going on. So I would launch an investigation if I were president right now by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission....

I would begin to go directly at OPEC. I think it's been 25 years where we've, you know, largely just been at the mercy of the OPEC countries.

But this gas tax issue to me is very real, because I am meeting people across Indiana and North Carolina who drive for a living, who commute long distances, who would save money if the oil companies paid this $8 billion this summer, instead of it coming out of the pockets of consumers.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Economists say that's not going to happen. They say this is going to go straight into the profits of the oil companies. They're not going to actually lower their prices. And the two top leaders in the House are against it. Nearly every editorial board and economist in the country has come out against it. Even a supporter of yours, Paul Krugman of The New York Times, calls it pointless and disappointing.

Can you name one economist, a credible economist who supports the suspension?

CLINTON: Well, you know, George, I think we've been for the last seven years seeing a tremendous amount of government power and elite opinion basically behind policies that haven't worked well for the middle class and hard-working Americans....

STEPHANOPOULOS: But can you name an economist who thinks this makes sense?

CLINTON: Well, I'll tell you what, I'm not going to put my lot in with economists, because I know if we get it right, if we actually did it right, if we had a president who used all the tools of the presidency, we would design it in such a way that it would be implemented effectively....

Wow. "Don't talk to me about economists or scientists, I know what the public wants. And I know what my campaign needs - some issue to show I am on their side and will do anything to get their votes."

I have been getting dissatisfied with Obama not focusing more on helping the working and middle-class but Hillary illustrates the dangers of just following that approach.

Gary Permalink on 5/05/2008

Texas 2008 May 05 Roundup

It's Monday and time for the Texas Progressive Alliance Weekly Blog Round-Up.

Easter Lemming couldn't decide which of his fine posts was the best last week and so missed the round-up.

CouldBeTrue from South Texas Chisme notes Republican-run government favors crony money over Texans' health. Asarco, a proven polluter, is given a permit to start polluting again and Abbott says lead poisoning landlords have a right to privacy.

John Coby at Bay Area Houston, thinks Bob Perry should go to Hell.

Doing My Part For The Left's Refinish69 joins Austin high school students in Breaking the Silence.

WhosPlayin writes about the disturbing trend for hospitals to require payment up front for expensive services like chemotherapy. Even "non-profit" hospitals like U.T.'s M.D. Anderson are doing this, even while reducing free care and racking up huge surpluses.

Off the Kuff looks at the race for Harris County Sheriff and foresees immigration issues playing a big role.

The Texas Cloverleaf wonders why Governor 39% appointed a policy nerd to chair the Transportation Commission, rather than someone who knows anything about roads. Cronyism perhaps?

In the wake of the SCOTUS decision approving voter ID legislation last week, PDiddie of Brains and Eggs fact-checks the need for it.

North Texas Liberal's Texas Toad takes a look at the new Republican culture war over something just as useless:
allowing guns in national parks. Thank you, John Cornyn.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson has this post on the Reaction To Perry's TxDOT Appointments.

McBlogger take a moment to talk about the state of the TTC and Guv. 39%'s appointments to the Transportation Commission.

Lightseeker shares his opinion On Trusting Free Market to Regulate Government over at Texas Kaos.

Vince at Capitol Annex shows another example of Voter ID Idiocy, this time highlighting an editorial from the Texarkana Gazette's pseudo-ivory-tower-intellectual editorial board and explains why such thinking is typical of suburban newspaper editors.

Gary Permalink on 5/05/2008