Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Harris County Voting Info


2009 locations,dates & times for early voting in Harris County



Location

Address

City

City

Harris County Administration Building

1001 Preston, 1st Floor

Houston

77002

Moody Park Recreation Center

3725 Fulton

Houston

77009

Julia C. Hester House

2020 Solo St.

Houston

77020

Ripley House

4410 Navigation Blvd.

Houston

77011

H.C.C. Southeast College-Learning Hub

6815 Rustic

Houston

77087

Palm Center-Justice of the Peace/Constable Entry

5300 Griggs Road

Houston

77021

Fiesta Mart., Inc.

8130 Kirby Drive

Houston

77054

Metropolitan Multi-Service Center

1475 W. Gray

Houston

77019

Northeast Multi-Service Center

9720 Spaulding

Houston

77016

Galena Park Branch Library

1500 Keene Street

Galena Park

77547

I.B.E.W Hall #66

4345 Allen Genoa Road

Pasadena

77504

Sunnyside Multi-Service Center

4605 Wilmington

Houston

77051

The Power Center

12401 South Post Oak Road

Houston

77045

Bayland Park Community Center

6400 Bissonnet (near Hillcroft)

Houston

77074

Tracy Gee Community Center

3599 Westcenter Drive

Houston

77042

Trini Mendenhall Sosa Community Center

1414 Wirt Road

Houston

77055

Acres Homes Multi-Service Center

6719 W. Montgomery Road

Houston

77091

Hardy Senior Center

11901 West Hardy Road

Houston

77076

Octavia Fields Branch Library

1503 South Houston Ave.

Humble

77338

Humble ISD Instructional Support Center

4810 Magnolia Cove

Kingwood

77345

North Channel Branch Library

15741 Wallisville Road

Houston

77049

Baytown Community Center

2407 Market Street

Baytown

77520

East Harris County Activity Center

7340 Spencer Highway

Pasadena

77505

Freeman Branch Library

16616 Diana Lane,

Houston

77062

Henington-Alief Regional Library

7979 South Kirkwood

Houston

77072

Lac Hong Square

6628 Wilcrest Drive

Houston

77072

Courtyard by Marriott

12401 Katy Freeway

Houston

77079

Franz Road Storefront (DPS)

19818 Franz Road

Katy

77449

Bear Creek Park Community Center

3055 Bear Creek Drive

Houston

77084

City of Jersey Village-City Hall

16327 Lakeview Drive

Jersey Village

77040

Tomball Public Works Building

501 B James St.

Tomball

77375

Barbara Bush Branch Library

6817 Cypresswood Drive

Spring

77379

Ponderosa Fire Station No. 1

17061 Rolling Creek Drive

Houston

77090

Cypress Top Park

26026 Hempstead Highway

Cypress

77429

George Bush Park-Glen Cheek Education Building

16002 Westheimer Parkway

Houston

77082

Lone Star College-Willowchase Campus

9449 Grant Road

Houston

77070

Crosby ISD Administration Building

706 Runneburg Road

Crosby

77532


Early Vote Hours of Operations
Oct 19 - 23rd
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
October 24th
7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
October 25th
1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
October 26th - October 30th
7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Early Locations, PDF
Election Day, Look-up: www.harrisvotes.com or (713) 755-6965



Constitutional Amendments - November 2009


Here is where to vote in Harris County. The map is by Greg Wythe.

When to Vote:

Early Voting Hours
» 10/19 - 10/23 : 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
» 10/24 : 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
» 10/25 : 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
» 10/26 - 10/30 : 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Election Day is November 3rd : 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m..

What to Vote For:

Proposition 1: Allowing cities and counties to issue bonds for improvements around military bases.

Proposition 2: Prohibiting property tax appraisals of homes from being based on the property's potential use as a business.

Proposition 3: Providing for uniform statewide enforcement of property tax appraisal standards.

Proposition 4: Establishing a permanent fund for the advancement of Texas public research universities.

Proposition 5: Allowing neighboring counties to share appraisal review boards.

Proposition 6: Allowing the Veterans' Land Board to reissue bonds that had been previously paid off.

Proposition 7: Removing the provision that prevents officeholders from serving in the Texas State Guard.

Proposition 8: Allowing state funds to be used for federal veterans hospitals.

Proposition 9: Placing provisions of the Texas Open Beaches Act in the Constitution.

Proposition 10: Extending the terms of Emergency Services District boards to four years.

Proposition 11: Placing restrictions on the use of eminent domain in the Constitution.

I think I am for all of these. Some beach property owners and developers are against 9 because they hate the open beach laws Texas has. Number 4 is particularly good, the University of Houston should qualify for state research money next year and it is money the state has but is simply not using. Tier One Research Universities are job creating machines. Number 11 has drawn some opposition because the actual amendment is worded poorly and contains loop holes even if it is better than what we have now.

Scott Hochberg has a lot more on these amendments.

League of Women Voters Guide to Amendments -PDF.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Milestones in the Quest for the Historical Jesus


This is a the new heretics view.

I consider myself to be one on the outskirts. More a mostly skeptical Universalist.

Saul who became Paul is very bad and Jesus seems a religious fanatic who thought he could bring on the End Times. James the Just, the brother of Jesus, seems the real leader and hero. When Jerusalem and most of Israel was destroyed only the Jewish communities outside survived and the Pauline Christianity community in Rome eventually became the most powerful and wrote the Bible, they also received the authority to destroy books that they did not support throughout the Empire. Jesus did not talk about atonement, that innovation came from Paul of Tarsus. It is to Paul that Christianity should trace its roots. The origins of Christianity as we know it came, not from Jesus, but from Paul.

The New Testament are letters that often chronicle the disputes between the Family of Jesus Church and Paul. The mysticism and miracles that are in the New Testament are superstitions that were copied down. A number of the Dead Sea Scrolls are from the first century and recount the struggles of the early church against "the liar" we now know as Paul.

Some of this is summarized here.


You Can't Please Everyone - WP edition


In Today's Viral World Who Keeps a Civil Tongue? the Washington Post asks in a front page story about someone who read at a school suddenly becoming hated by the right. Not for something she said but because at the school some children sang a song about Obama. Michelle Malkin was one of the first to lead the attacks.

Of course, the WP is scolded over this front-page column by the conservative so-called fact-checker Newsbusters.

They get facts wrong, of course. The repeal of "don't ask - don't tell" is something Obama has pledged many times before. In a nothing new speech he pledged it again and that speech was not a front page story. You rarely get front page stories when the President says nothing new - you might get angry editorials about him saying nothing new which is Andrew Sullivan's function for the Atlantic.

Another righty blog is outraged that the subject of the story is a government worker who has time to be a writer as well. Other than slams at the liberalness of it all that is about all that is there.

Pandagon.net has someone scolding the WP for only focusing on the nastiness of the right, not doing fact-checking on the inaccuracies.

Anytime the Washington Post puts an article scolding Michelle Malkin on the front page instead of one praising her I'll take it.

Friday, October 09, 2009

Climate Change - Is It Just Too Damn Late?


No

We must start now to not only decrease emissions but also to increase the rate of atmospheric carbon reduction.


Dying because of no healthcare in Texas


“If you don’t qualify for Medicaid or the county indigent program, you are in no-man’s land. If you can’t pay for your treatment, you are out of luck.”

Anyone who thinks that America has the best health care system in the world should visit the county clinics around Texas as people come there as a last resort. If they have gotten sick enough to can't keep a job they may get help - if the county clinic can find someone to take them.

Usually poor people would be on Medicaid. But Texas has the most misery Medicaid qualification in the country. To qualify in Texas a family of three can't make more than $188 - a month.

Texas Observer - Sick + Tired
How Texas' health-care system bleeds county coffers and sends some to early graves.


Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Shroud of Turin replicated


Jobsanger has the info on the Shroud of Turin being replicated using materials easily available several centuries ago. Scientists proved by radio-carbon dating it was made in the Middle Ages but conservative Catholic members on the teams disputed the findings. This touched off a long debate with supposedly scientific evidence against the radio-carbon results presented.

Wiki has a good article on the controversies.


Goppy lies over National Competition


"Why are you so viscerally opposed to personal choice (ability to buy policies across state lines, HSAs, etc.) and instead insist on a government solution ? - Someone in the Washington Post comments.

"Why are Democrats opposing the real way to reduce costs, allowing health insurance companies to cross state lines?" Republican strategist on MSNBC.

The last time conservatives went on a big campaign for personal choice and increased competition by crossing state lines it was over credit cards. Increased competition would lower rates they cried.

Immediately after it passed every credit card company went to the states with the least regulations. Competition diminished and rates skyrocketed past the usury levels most states had set.

They count on people not knowing history and buying into these supposedly free market myths.