How Things Work
8 years ago
Friday, May 30, 2008
Irma's in The Atlantic
Houston businesswoman Irma Galvan is featured in the June issue of The Atlantic magazine. Ignore the non-Mexican music accompanying the slide show and indulge in the reporter's decadent description of a Houston original.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Fun at the DNC Rules Committee Meeting
Do you have tickets to the fight this weekend? If not, don't worry, it will be televised.
Hillary Clinton fans are traveling to Washington, DC, with plans of taking on the DNC Rules Committee regarding the seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan. They are going to protest and bang their drums, rallying for Florida and Michigan delegates to be added posthumously to the overall delegate count. Most of all, they'll just look like the nuts they are. They most certainly are not Democrats.
Ah... Florida. I knew I could re-count on you.And Michigan! Democrats seem to be continuously working on a solution, so I'm less worried about you. However, let this be a lesson: There are rules that are put in place for a reason. You just can't change them arbitrarily to Pantsuit your own needs.
Update: Another Voice calling out the Clinton campaign and her worshippers.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Is this thing on?
Yes, we're still listening to the warm up act.
Yes, we know she's pissed off at the prospect of losing, as are her army of post-menopausal white women who justify their ire by saying they will never see a woman elected President of the United States in their lifetimes. Yes, Hillary Clinton's campaign forges on and she continues to talk a whole lot of s-h-i-t along the way. Earlier this week, she was on quite a roll with the sexism claims against the Obama campaign, the media and anyone else her husband could wave his finger at. It was an issue that was working, too, as many bloggers and big media-types opined on how Clinton has been the target of extreme sexism.
Then she speculated about the possibility of the death of her opponent.
This is what she gets for wishing bad upon others. She's still in the Democratic race for the nomination because she and her merry band of haters insist that Barack Obama is unworthy and unelectable, and that he is bound to fuck up so bad that the Party will come to its senses and "select" her as our nominee.
Karma's a bitch, isn't it?
Yes, we know she's pissed off at the prospect of losing, as are her army of post-menopausal white women who justify their ire by saying they will never see a woman elected President of the United States in their lifetimes. Yes, Hillary Clinton's campaign forges on and she continues to talk a whole lot of s-h-i-t along the way. Earlier this week, she was on quite a roll with the sexism claims against the Obama campaign, the media and anyone else her husband could wave his finger at. It was an issue that was working, too, as many bloggers and big media-types opined on how Clinton has been the target of extreme sexism.
Then she speculated about the possibility of the death of her opponent.
This is what she gets for wishing bad upon others. She's still in the Democratic race for the nomination because she and her merry band of haters insist that Barack Obama is unworthy and unelectable, and that he is bound to fuck up so bad that the Party will come to its senses and "select" her as our nominee.
Karma's a bitch, isn't it?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Que dios se bendiga, Senator Kennedy
Senator Edward Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He's up & around, but will need the strength of his family, friends and loved ones to get through the treatments and recovery. Senator Kennedy has been a strong voice for us in the Senate and on the campaign trail this primary season, as he demonstrated in Laredo a few months ago:
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Tubin' the Guadalupe
Mr. & Mrs. 140 took me camping with them to New Braunfels in beautiful Comal County, TX. We spent six freaking hours floating the Guadalupe River on Saturday, finally getting dry at 7:00pm. It was a slow, freezing cold ride on an overcast Hill Country day, but it was still a blast, and I have the bruises from the ride down the rapids to prove it. Every once in a while I forgot to lift myself up and would take a rock right on the butt or on my back. I am proud to say I wiped out only once and while I did lose my hat, I never lost my beer or my inner tube.
Today was perfect tubing weather - 92 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The next camping trip may be to my favorite place in the wide world - Garner State Park & the Frio River. It's got clear water, gorgeous scenery and lots of hot South Texas cowboys. Nothing chills that kind of heat like the Rio Frio, which lives up to its name.
Today was perfect tubing weather - 92 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The next camping trip may be to my favorite place in the wide world - Garner State Park & the Frio River. It's got clear water, gorgeous scenery and lots of hot South Texas cowboys. Nothing chills that kind of heat like the Rio Frio, which lives up to its name.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
In case you missed it....
Texas made the New York Times again. I know this because my Tuesday paper was waiting for me right outside my door yesterday morning. Yay! This time, The Paper of Record featured an article written about their junior Senator's presidential campaign and the "walkin' around money" Team Clinton passed out to politiqueros here in Houston and South Texas:
If there is one practice that should be abolished, it is this one. I am all for campaign workers getting paid for the work they do in the field. Hell, I am one of those campaign workers. What I despise is the "pay to play" old-school game that equivocates the hard work of true believers in this democracy with the sheisty patron/patrona system that gives Latinos in politics a bad name.
Extortion sucks. Anyone who plays this game is a liar, a cheater and yes - deserves to lose.
The Clinton campaign made payments of $80 to $125 to more than 200 people in Houston, and $100 to $200 to 170 people in the McAllen and Brownsville areas near the Mexican border.
Here in Houston, the Obama campaign resisted the "shakedown" by many people and at least one public figure (and you know who you are). It's been widely suggested that the reason Sen. Obama didn't do better in Philadelphia is because his campaign refused to pay the locals the walkin' around money they are accustomed to getting from various candidates at election time.The Clinton campaign did not respond to several requests for comment. Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, drew a distinction between the money it paid to college students, who he said were enthusiastic supporters to begin with, and the payments by the Clinton campaign, which he described as an effort to buy influence among important constituencies.
It is unclear whether the payments made much of a difference. Mrs. Clinton did sweep the border areas of Texas by wide margins, helping her win the primary by about 100,000 votes, of nearly 2.9 million cast, but she had already had a strong base of support among the region’s Hispanics. And Mr. Obama carried Houston and other urban areas where black voters formed a crucial bloc of support.
If there is one practice that should be abolished, it is this one. I am all for campaign workers getting paid for the work they do in the field. Hell, I am one of those campaign workers. What I despise is the "pay to play" old-school game that equivocates the hard work of true believers in this democracy with the sheisty patron/patrona system that gives Latinos in politics a bad name.
Extortion sucks. Anyone who plays this game is a liar, a cheater and yes - deserves to lose.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Special Comment
Don't worry, I will not be as long winded as Keith O. I just wanted to relay my perspectives to my reader (Hi, Mom) about the developments around the current status of the Democratic presidential nomination saga.
People, listen. We must let Senator Clinton run her campaign and let her decide when it is time to end her run for the nomination. Team Clinton cannot afford to carry on the way they have onto the next primaries. They're broke, they owe money to vendors in almost every state and the cash is drying up fast. Things are not going well. Let her supporters get it out of their systems. Know that they are angry and upset that their candidate will not be the 44th President of the United States. But if I may, I'd like to pass along some advice from some well-seasoned Democrats who back Clinton: this is politics, baby. Someone has to win and someone has to lose.
These words of wisdom were spoken in reference to the many supporters of Senator Obama who, at various times during the course of this campaign, felt cheated and reduced to the status of being "new to the game," and thus rendering them unworthy of understanding how politics is played. The comments by Bill in South Carolina? That's politics, baby.
Sending out misleading and incorrect information about Barack Obama's position on choice in New Hampshire? Politics, plain & simple - and it worked.
Lots of tactics worked well for the Clinton campaign. They have seriously played up Senator Clinton's whiteness as the main reason she should be our party's nominee. She's already used the "vote for me because it is time to elect a woman" strategy. Now she is using the "vote for me because I am white" strategy. Her campaign is trying to sell a bill of goods to Democrats that isn't worth the Blackberry it was typed on. The Clinton camp is insisting that Democrats need the votes of the uneducated white-working class in November to win the presidency. This is all bullshit.
Number one, Senator Obama has done increasingly better with the white working-class vote in each contest. West Virginia may not bode well for him on May 13th when that state holds their primary. Nevertheless, the Clintons continue to encounter opposition in those states, as well.
Number two, the white working class vote has not gone for a Democrat in at least two generations. The Reagan Democrats boast "conservative values" that Senator Clinton proudly identified with on the campaign trail. She transformed herself from privileged, private schooled, filthy-rich lawyer and former First Lady to a whiskey-swilling blue-collar lush overnight. Gone were the "screw 'em" sentiments she voiced at Camp David in 1995. Suddenly, she was our Great White Hope who felt our pain at the gas pump and tried hard to contrast that image against the annoying black man who thinks he's smarter than us. Classy.
Number three, the working class white electorate that she courts may not vote for her over John McCain. Do you know who would vote for her over McCain? The base of the Democratic party - African Americans. This community is solidly, loyally Democratic. We can count on our brothers and sisters in the black community to stand with us all day and all night in fighting the Republicans. The way she has and continues to insult the base of the Democratic party is dumbfounding.
Additionally, I find it absolutely astounding how prominent leaders of our party continue to stand with the Clinton campaign while they belittle the value of black Democrats and use Republican talking points ("gaaas taaax holiday") and an updated version of the Southern Strategy to divide the Democratic party.
I am not asking that the Clintons suspend their bid for the presidency. I ask that everyone stay tuned to the Democratic primary contests and observe how the Clintons went all out, balls to the walls and still lost. When you sell your soul to special interests and to the worst attributes of human nature, you get what you deserve.
People, listen. We must let Senator Clinton run her campaign and let her decide when it is time to end her run for the nomination. Team Clinton cannot afford to carry on the way they have onto the next primaries. They're broke, they owe money to vendors in almost every state and the cash is drying up fast. Things are not going well. Let her supporters get it out of their systems. Know that they are angry and upset that their candidate will not be the 44th President of the United States. But if I may, I'd like to pass along some advice from some well-seasoned Democrats who back Clinton: this is politics, baby. Someone has to win and someone has to lose.
These words of wisdom were spoken in reference to the many supporters of Senator Obama who, at various times during the course of this campaign, felt cheated and reduced to the status of being "new to the game," and thus rendering them unworthy of understanding how politics is played. The comments by Bill in South Carolina? That's politics, baby.
Sending out misleading and incorrect information about Barack Obama's position on choice in New Hampshire? Politics, plain & simple - and it worked.
Lots of tactics worked well for the Clinton campaign. They have seriously played up Senator Clinton's whiteness as the main reason she should be our party's nominee. She's already used the "vote for me because it is time to elect a woman" strategy. Now she is using the "vote for me because I am white" strategy. Her campaign is trying to sell a bill of goods to Democrats that isn't worth the Blackberry it was typed on. The Clinton camp is insisting that Democrats need the votes of the uneducated white-working class in November to win the presidency. This is all bullshit.
Number one, Senator Obama has done increasingly better with the white working-class vote in each contest. West Virginia may not bode well for him on May 13th when that state holds their primary. Nevertheless, the Clintons continue to encounter opposition in those states, as well.
Number two, the white working class vote has not gone for a Democrat in at least two generations. The Reagan Democrats boast "conservative values" that Senator Clinton proudly identified with on the campaign trail. She transformed herself from privileged, private schooled, filthy-rich lawyer and former First Lady to a whiskey-swilling blue-collar lush overnight. Gone were the "screw 'em" sentiments she voiced at Camp David in 1995. Suddenly, she was our Great White Hope who felt our pain at the gas pump and tried hard to contrast that image against the annoying black man who thinks he's smarter than us. Classy.
Number three, the working class white electorate that she courts may not vote for her over John McCain. Do you know who would vote for her over McCain? The base of the Democratic party - African Americans. This community is solidly, loyally Democratic. We can count on our brothers and sisters in the black community to stand with us all day and all night in fighting the Republicans. The way she has and continues to insult the base of the Democratic party is dumbfounding.
Additionally, I find it absolutely astounding how prominent leaders of our party continue to stand with the Clinton campaign while they belittle the value of black Democrats and use Republican talking points ("gaaas taaax holiday") and an updated version of the Southern Strategy to divide the Democratic party.
I am not asking that the Clintons suspend their bid for the presidency. I ask that everyone stay tuned to the Democratic primary contests and observe how the Clintons went all out, balls to the walls and still lost. When you sell your soul to special interests and to the worst attributes of human nature, you get what you deserve.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Memories...
Fresh off of the results from the latest Rasmussen poll, Team Noriega is enjoying some much deserved love from the Texas media & blogosphere today.
The Talented Mr. Doroteo has posted some YouTube memories for SD6 delegates to enjoy. Six weeks later, our Senate District convention experience is like that last shot of whatever-it-is-you-promised-not-to-drink-anymore if the pain & nausea will just go away. Good job, Carlitos!
One Day Out: The Indiana and North Carolina Primaries
I'm making a call on tomorrow's Democratic presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.
Indiana: Obama, 51-49
North Carolina: Obama 57-43.
Holla!
Friday, May 2, 2008
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