edited by: Ted McLaughlin,
Texas Editor
The five conservative Supreme Court justices have gone all "activist" in undermining the clear intent of another discrimination law. The previous example was in 2007 with gender discrimination -- a ruling that was remedied by the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This time, in a recent decision, it is with [...]
From the San Antonio Express-News today:
For centuries, people have been drawn to the twisting limestone canyons that make up Lost Maples State Natural Area.
Lou Waters was one. Now 70, he can hop across white boulders to explore the grottos like a 10-year-old.
On Friday, he plans to sign paperwork to [...]
From the Hill Country Planning Association:
The Hill Country Planning Association asks that you please consider sending two e-mail letters (samples provided (below) to support Tx Parks & Wildlife Commission purchasing 732 acres adjacent to Lost Maples and accepting 3000 acres adjacent to Government Canyon. My understanding is that the state needs to hear [...]
New York Times headline today:
By Slim Margin, Senate Advances Stimulus BillA more accurate description:
Senate Advances Stimulus Bill 61 to 36"Slim-margin" is of course referring to the Senate rules that allow any 40 Senators to block legislation. But anywhere else a 61 to 36 margin would be considered decisive [...]
Excellent news. From The Hill:
The Senate on Thursday flexed its bolstered Democratic majority and passed an equal pay measure that Republicans blocked last year. The bill could be the first measure signed into law by President Obama.
Senators voted 61-36 for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, after a day of [...]
Our shiny new train is departing. Where shall we take it?
[...]The Lilly Ledbetter Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act both passed the House resoundingly on Friday. Unfortunately, the vast, vast majority of Republicans remain adamantly opposed to recognizing the problems with workplace discrimination that these bills are meant to address.
Also, I've noticed a misleading representation of the Ledbetter Act [...]
One of the first acts to be taken up by the new Congress should be the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Hopefully this time, thanks to the GOP's numerous defeats in the recent elections, it won't be filibustered to death by the Senate Republicans.
From the NY Times on [...]
It's been a few years, but I finally broke 24 minutes in a 5K race, finishing in 23:59 in a (hilly!) race on November 8. In this post from February 2005, I suggested I would be running another race in "a month or so". It turned out to be [...]
It's been just over two days now since this interminable election season finally came to an end in virtually the best possible way. I'm not sure the results have fully sunk in yet.
Even so, with the economy going off the deep end, the next few months are likely not [...]
More details from the convention website:
“We are honored that Lilly Ledbetter will address the Democratic Convention,” said Senator Barack Obama. “The fact that women are paid less than their male coworkers for doing the same job is unacceptable in the 21st century and counter to both the progress we've made and our shared [...]The sudden war in the Caucuses involving Russia and Georgia is quite disturbing. It's inspired me to do a bit of reading on the recent history that led to this battle. From this reading, it is clear that the tensions between Russian and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia have [...]
From front page of the Sunday Express-News:
When the City Council approved San Antonio’s first tree-preservation ordinance in 1997, there was no question the rules applied to real estate developers.
But what happens when a property owner claims he’s not a developer, and hundreds of acres of trees are bulldozed on his land as [...]
While we were traveling last week, we missed this news of a rally in support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. From Womenstake:
As the rally commenced, one by one the Congresswomen spoke to the crowd and explained why the passage of this Act is integral to closing the wage [...]
The rate of land-trashing by real estate developers in northwest Bexar County has reached the stage where it threatens the continued existence of an amy training ground, Camp Bullis. This threat has compelled both the City of San Antonio and the U.S. Army to act, which, finally, has brought [...]
Our TV media is not a direct reflection of our society, but it does reflect the attitudes of those in powerful positions. With that in mind, take a look at this video produced by the Women's Media Center (via Digby):
And with this, my self-imposed political "vacation" comes to an end and the campaign to make Barack Obama our next President begins.
Hillary Clinton ends historic race, strongly endorses Barack Obama
WASHINGTON — Putting an end to her campaign to be the first woman president, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton today enthusiastically endorsed her [...]
Here is a bill I've been keeping a close eye on for nearly a year:
Under a measure sponsored by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, the court’s ruling that Ms. [Lilly] Ledbetter [of Alabama] failed to file a timely challenge to pay practices at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. plant [...]
I am of mixed opinions of how or even whether to assist people and banks that got involved in the overinflated housing market over the last few years. But one thing I am clear about is that giving out billions of dollars of taxpayers' money to the housing industry that [...]
Literally, mud fell from the sky here in San Antonio last Tuesday.
I have no experience with that kind of weather phenomenon before, so I didn't know what to make of it. My first impression upon seeing my car, after emerging from my office late that afternoon, was "My car [...]
If "geoengineering" is truly becoming a mainstream concept, as suggested by Chris Mooney at the Intersection (based on a recent mention in Time magazine), then we are truly on a dangerous path.
Time writes, "Geoengineering has long been the province of kooks, but as the difficulty of reducing greenhouse-gas [...]
Here are a few of my photos from the first Luminaria arts and music festival, downtown San Antonio, Saturday, March 15, 2008. There was way too much going on to come close to seeing and doing all I wanted to. If the city this again (and I sure hope they [...]
Our GOP administration in Texas continues its assault on the concept of public lands. They haven't had much success lately, but they keep trying. This time, it is Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, who for months has been doing his best to try to sell off 9,000+ acres of land out [...]
The line of the night, from the precinct chair at our Democratic precinct convention (aka "caucus") last night, addressing the (guessing) 200 or so attendees in an elementary school cafeteria:
[...]Where were you all last time we had one of these things, when we had like four people!
These are not the greatest images, but they are the best I managed to acquire from my distance and in the available lighting. Obama's "Stand for Change" rally, February 29 2008, San Antonio TX:
A few days ago, I noticed that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were planning rallies in San Antonio for the weekend. I was hoping to attend both of them -- after all, it is pretty rare that my state is involved in such a heated primary race between two stellar [...]
My political roots are in the Chicago of the 1980s, the interregnum between the Mayor Daleys when racial politics threatened to tear apart the city. National politics -- Reagan, Iran-Contra, etc -- flew at the edge of my political radar, but I was extremely attentive to the ongoing saga of [...]
Not quite all the votes have been counted yet, but the vast majority have been (including 93% in California), so I decided to quickly tally up the total votes for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama yesterday to see if either managed to satisfy my arbitrary criterion for a "winner". Remember, [...]
Well, the time has come at last, after a very long month. The preliminaries are over -- Super Tuesday is tomorrow. This time, believe the hype.
And while I aligned myself with Barack Obama several weeks back, I've tried not to write much about the primaries as I didn't want to contribute [...]
The hype surrounding the Iowa caucuses went from high to ridiculous last night. It is even becoming hard for me to resist, particularly since my preferred candidate is the beneficiary. Yet Obama supporters should not get overconfident, as many more, and much bigger states are still to come. Things can [...]
The media and blogger hype surrounding the Iowa caucuses has been as great this year as I have ever seen it. I find this troubling given how undemocratic the caucus process is, how few people participate, and how unrepresentative those people are of the country as a whole.
No matter who [...]
Listening to and reading everyday political commentary, from newspapers to blogs to even such allegedly respectable sources as NPR and PBS' Newshour, I have frequently despaired at the lack of interesting insights from the talking heads.
But then I saw this article at The American Prospect from Mark Schmitt -- [...]
San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and the board of the San Antonio Water System took a stand against the rampant development of the Hill Country landscape earlier this week. This is a decision that deserves wider recognition.
From the Express-News, Dec 5:
Taking a rare stand against a developer to protect [...]
We progressives who are politically active appear to have an instinctive understanding, epsecially after witnessing the last decade, that the mainstream media is not our friend and cannot be trusted. At least we have this understanding in theory.
So why are so many of us so quick to regurgitate what [...]
Conga King, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, has died, at the age of 81. A consolation is that we still have his music. A couple samples below, via YouTube: one solo and one with the Tito Puente Latin Jazz Ensemble from 1981.
From the New York Times:
Known for his fluid, improvisatory melodies, [...]
It's not too late to see the freak Comet Holmes. Although if you wait too much longer, it may be. It has gotten so big and diffuse that, as bright as it is, it can be hard to see without binoculars -- especially when the moon is up (which [...]
At a family reunion Saturday night outside of Bastrop, I took a break from the festivities to step outside and spend some time with our dog, Ginger, who unfortunately was not invited inside.
It was a clear night, and where we were, the skies were relatively free of light pollution, so [...]
Water pollution is still a major problem, particularly here in Texas. The Express-News reported yesterday (emphasis added):
Texas leads the nation in the number of treatment plants and industrial facilities that fail to meet pollution standards for the wastewater they dump into rivers and streams, according to a report released [...]
The Texas Progressive Alliance puts together a roundup of members' highlighted posts on a weekly basis. I've been remiss in not posting these more often. This week's roundup was compiled by Vince at Capitol Annex. You may notice a post by your truly buried in [...]
A group called Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) just had their national conference in our fair town. Given the nature of GOP policies over the last, say, 27 years, the name sounds oxymoronic, perhaps an intentional obfuscation. But I've followed this group for many years, and they do appear to [...]
Those of us who lived in the San Antonio and, particularly, the Hill Country north and northwest of San Antonio, will never forget the flood of early July 2002, when a large area here received 30 inches or more of rain in less than [...]
Our own government apparently plans to turn Texas and the Rio Grande Valley into a new Berlin, divided by a wall -- a wall thorougly destructive of the communities which it splits and the land which it occupies. I know I am not alone in finding this an extremely repulsive [...]
Our own government apparently plans to turn Texas and the Rio Grande Valley into a new Berlin, divided by a wall -- a wall thorougly destructive of the communities which it splits and the land which it occupies. I know I am not alone in finding this an extremely repulsive [...]
San Antonio's annual Jazz'SAlive festival is today and tomorrow, downtown at Travis Park. In my nearly nine years living here, I've yet to attend, but this year should finally be different.
After all, playing tonight are Artruo Sandoval and Henry Brun and the Latin [...]
San Antonio's annual Jazz'SAlive festival is today and tomorrow, downtown at Travis Park. In my nearly nine years living here, I've yet to attend, but this year should finally be different.
After all, playing tonight are Artruo Sandoval and Henry Brun and the Latin [...]
The fight over wind farms along the south Texas coast continues. From the Express-News over the weekend:
A coalition of bird and conservation organizations will make a last-ditch effort Monday to stall or kill two large wind farms on the Texas Coast.
The increasingly acrimonious dispute pits two favorites [...]
The fight over wind farms along the south Texas coast continues. From the Express-News over the weekend:
A coalition of bird and conservation organizations will make a last-ditch effort Monday to stall or kill two large wind farms on the Texas Coast.
The increasingly acrimonious dispute pits two favorites [...]
I was distressed to read this morning that housing development is threatening to eat into the small area of remaining habitat for the majestic, endangered Whooping Crane on the Texas gulf coast.
From the San Antonio Express-News:
An Austin developer who insists he is doing everything possible to protect the [...]
I was distressed to read this morning that housing development is threatening to eat into the small area of remaining habitat for the majestic, endangered Whooping Crane on the Texas gulf coast.
From the San Antonio Express-News:
An Austin developer who insists he is doing everything possible to protect the [...]
The late, great salsa singer Hector Lavoe is the subject of a new Hollywood film, called El Cantante. Any excuse to listen to his music is a good one, so in that spirit, here are some clips, courtesy of his fans on YouTube, of Lavoe from his heyday with trombonist [...]
The late, great salsa singer Hector Lavoe is the subject of a new Hollywood film, called El Cantante. Any excuse to listen to his music is a good one, so in that spirit, here are some clips, courtesy of his fans on YouTube, of Lavoe from his heyday with trombonist [...]
The San Antonio Express-News published a letter of mine today, in response to this article from last Sunday's paper. The article focused on women re-entering the workforce after taking several years off the care for their kids. For my letter, they used a title "Show both sides," but a [...]
The San Antonio Express-News published a letter of mine today, in response to this article from last Sunday's paper. The article focused on women re-entering the workforce after taking several years off the care for their kids. For my letter, they used a title "Show both sides," but a [...]
Desipte setbacks, the oil-industry and their puppets in the Bush administration are continuing their pursuit of an area in far north-central Alaska owned by the people of the United States--an area that is a crucial habitat area for migratory birds--an area separate from, and perhaps even more important, than [...]
Desipte setbacks, the oil-industry and their puppets in the Bush administration are continuing their pursuit of an area in far north-central Alaska owned by the people of the United States--an area that is a crucial habitat area for migratory birds--an area separate from, and perhaps even more important, than [...]
The Express-News has much of their Sunday Travel section devoted to Texas state parks this week, including profiles of two specific parks: Pedernales Falls in the Hill Country north of San Antonio, and Palo Duro Canyon in far, far northwest Texas. The former I've been to a few [...]
The Express-News has much of their Sunday Travel section devoted to Texas state parks this week, including profiles of two specific parks: Pedernales Falls in the Hill Country north of San Antonio, and Palo Duro Canyon in far, far northwest Texas. The former I've been to a few [...]
I've spent much of the last few days in rural Kimble County, escaping the pressures of everyday life and news of our nation's affaris. But this retreat was rudely interrupted yesterday when I happened to involuntarily glance at the headlines of the San Antonio Express-News inside a vending machine: President [...]
I've spent much of the last few days in rural Kimble County, escaping the pressures of everyday life and news of our nation's affaris. But this retreat was rudely interrupted yesterday when I happened to involuntarily glance at the headlines of the San Antonio Express-News inside a vending machine: President [...]
Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, reminds us not to be taken in by the predictable propaganda that emanates from the logging industry and their pawns in the Congress and the Bush Interior Department after every single major fire episode in the western U.S. (emphasis added)
[C]ommunities at [...]
Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, reminds us not to be taken in by the predictable propaganda that emanates from the logging industry and their pawns in the Congress and the Bush Interior Department after every single major fire episode in the western U.S. (emphasis added)
[C]ommunities at [...]
I looked into the Audubon Society report on the dramatic decline of a number of common bird species in recent decades, but, unfortunately, the report was not designed to determine the cause of these declines. That is left to intelligent speculation and to future studies.
Meanwhile, though, Audubon has provided [...]
I looked into the Audubon Society report on the dramatic decline of a number of common bird species in recent decades, but, unfortunately, the report was not designed to determine the cause of these declines. That is left to intelligent speculation and to future studies.
Meanwhile, though, Audubon has provided [...]
The first term of one of Texas' incumbent U.S. Senators, Republican John Cornyn, ends in 2008. He will be running for re-election no doubt, but his approval rating is far from stellar, and his long record of serving as a yes-man for the Bushies may finally come back to haunt [...]
The first term of one of Texas' incumbent U.S. Senators, Republican John Cornyn, ends in 2008. He will be running for re-election no doubt, but his approval rating is far from stellar, and his long record of serving as a yes-man for the Bushies may finally come back to haunt [...]
Expres-News columnist Jaime Castillo reports that the newly narrowly-elected mayor of Helotes, the one bankrolled by real estate developers, is now throwing a wrench into the process of establishing Helotes' first public park.
Never mind that, up to now, the park proposal has been a shining example of [...]
Timothy Egan, author of "The Worst Hard Time," an excellent account of those who lived through the 1930s Dust Bowl which I read last summer, has an essay in The New York Times describing Bush's public lands legacy. The article--"This Land Was My Land"--is behind the subscription firewall, but [...]
In a few days, there will be a runoff election for the open city council seat in northwest San Antonio. The candidates are Diane Cibrian and Morris Stribling. Living just a short distance outside of this district, I have been following this election sporadically.
In general, I have been unimpressed [...]
The Houston Chronicle and the Tyler Morning Telegraph have provided useful summaries of what the parks funding bill that passed the legislature at the last minute actually contains. Here are a couple substantial excerpts, though if you care about Texas's parks, it is worth looking at the entire articles.
From the [...]
President Bush has finally gotten around to strengthening the sanctions against the Sudanese government due to their support for the atrocities in Darfur.
Deb Reichman of the Associated Press puts it bluntly:
The sanctions target about 30 companies involved in Sudan's oil industry, and three individuals, including a rebel leader [...]
I tuned in to the Texas House proceedings Sunday night just after midnight (hence Monday morning, officially) in anticipation of seeing action on the parks funding bill, HB 12, in the final hours of this legislative session. Instead, I saw quite a dramatic display, as the latest battle in [...]
The three top contenders for the GOP nomination for President in 2008 are showing that they can no more be trusted to lead this country into an uncertain future than the man they seek to replace. In their ambition, they seek to further mislead and confuse the American people about [...]
As the hours tick down on this biennial session of the Texas legislature, the state house has devolved into chaos due to a renewed, so far unsuccessful, attempt to oust the current dictatorial GOP House Speaker, Tom Craddick. The Dallas Morning-News has more on last night's quite unusual events.
Meanwhile, [...]
I have plenty of my own opinions on the current situation in Congress regarding funding Bush's Iraq War, but while I try to gather time to express them, at least two others have expressed viewpoints with which I can get behind.
From South Texas Chisme:
Congressional Democrats who voted for the [...]
Al Gore's last project was to help bring the urgency of the climate crisis to the attention of the American people. That, as we all know, has been a tremendous success over the last year. Now, he is moving on to the next phase, as New York Times Magazine's James [...]
Headlines earlier this week suggested that President Bush might finally be acting against global warming. The Austin American-Statesman had a typical example, with the headline "Bush orders EPA to craft plan for regulating auto emissions," and the subhead "President sets 2008 deadline for proposals."
But in reality, he is boxed [...]
The latest on the state Senate's machinations to restrict funding to restore Texas' parks, from the Austin American-Statesman (emphasis added)
[A] Senate version of an appropriations bill had appeared to give $142 million more to the state parks department over the next two years, but that number drops to about [...]
The crime:
"With its OxyContin, Purdue unleashed a highly abusable, addictive, and potentially dangerous drug on an unsuspecting and unknowing public," [U.S. Attorney John] Brownlee said. "For these misrepresentations and crimes, Purdue and its executives have been brought to justice."
The punishment:
"[C]ompany chief executive officer Michael Friedman, general counsel Howard Udell [...]
The Kerrville Daily Times reports that the leading parks advocate in the state legislature, Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, is speaking out about the state Senate's lack of action on the bill to fully fund our state parks system. The bill passed the state House recently with an overwhelming margin. Now [...]
Two years ago, a battle over the development of a Super Wal-Mart divided the small town of Helotes, on the outskirts of San Antonio's sprawling suburbs and a gateway to the Hill Country. The municipal elections ended up with the anti-Wal-Mart forces, led by mayoral candidate Jon Allan, ekeing out [...]
More death, alas. Wally Schirra, one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, is gone. Only two now remain: John Glenn and Scott Carpenter.
Schirra's last spaceflight, the first Apollo mission, launched the day after I was born, but my youth was steeped in the lore of the early space program, so [...]
Yet another alleged "Earth-like" planet is currently in the process of being over-hyped. Having made three posts on similar misleading announcemens in the press over the last couple years, I was originally not inclined to post on the same subject yet again, even if it has been a year since [...]
With the time remaining in the Texas legislative session rapidly dwindling, our legislators are on the verge of a massive failure to restore funding to the crumbling Texas state parks system. The Lufkin Daily News reported on Friday:
So far, the Legislature has appropriated $33 million to fund state parks [...]
Why must the New York Times hide Nick Kristof's articles behind their subscription firewall? As many people as possible need to hear his words on Darfur.
In yesterday's column, Kristof tries to tell us that the horrors in Darfur are easier to stop than most people may realize. He writes [...]
San Antonio has a brand new, Smithsonian-affiliated, museum downtown. The grand opening was Friday, but, as the Express-News reported, continues as a "huge three-day celebration", so it's not over yet:
It's been a 10-year journey, from dream to reality, for the new, 40,000-square-foot Smithsonian affiliate, which launched its three-day public [...]
What can we do to end the horrors being perpetrated in Darfur? Is divestment from companies that invest in Sudan enough? Given the pain, the suffering, and the killing going on every day in Darfur, as the Sudanese government appears to perpetually put off allowing any meaningful peacekeeping force [...]
A bird and nature festival in San Antonio? Sounds like a great idea to me, and it's just a few weeks away -- WildFest San Antonio. From the Express-News:
The first-ever WildFest San Antonio is scheduled for May 4 to 6, and despite the name, it has nothing to do [...]
Yesterday was an odd day in central Texas. Early April, spring well-underway, yet the mid-day temperature was in the 40s and, at times, it was actually snowing! That would be unusual here even in the depths of winter.
With my parents visiting from Chicago, we had planned to take them on [...]
