No Going Back

Cesar Chavez Freeway ?

Could there soon be a 10 mile stretch of freeway running through the heart of Fort Worth renamed in honor of human rights activist Cesar Chavez? That's what State Rep. Lon Burnam (D-Fort Worth) would like to see. And he has once again shepherded a bill through the Texas House of Representatives that would do that. The House approved the bill last Thursday on a 131 to 13 vote.

Now the bill must pass the Texas Senate. Burnam got a similar bill approved in the House in the last legislative session (2011), but it died in the Senate. This year the bill has squeaked through the Senate Transportation Committee by a 5 to 4 vote. Now it is up to State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) to round up enough votes in the Republican-dominated Senate to get the bill passed and sent on to the governor.

The Republicans have talked a lot about reaching out to the Hispanic community (the fastest-growing group of voters in the country, and a group the Republicans do very poorly with). If they were serious, this bill would be a very good start in Texas. Cesar Chavez is a hero in the Hispanic community, and deservedly so.

Unfortunately though, I think most of the GOP talk about reaching out to Hispanics is just that -- talk. The Texas GOP is among the most extreme-right-wing state parties in this country, and is controlled by a coalition of teabaggers and fundamentalists. That's going to make it very tough to get the Chavez bill through the Senate.

Will the bill pass and the freeway be renamed in honor of Cesar Chavez? I doubt it, but I hope I'm wrong. After all, stranger things have happened in the Texas legislature.

Remembering A Hero

Today marks the birthday of a true American hero -- Cesar Chavez. Mr. Chavez was born on March 31, 1927. No one fought harder for the poor, the downtrodden, and the oppressed people than he did. His memory now serves as a guiding light to show us the way to economic and social justice.

More Chavez Accusations By U.S. Official

Venezuela is a fairly small country that poses no danger to the United States. But that hasn't stopped the Bush administration from picking on Venezuela every opportunity they get. It really bugs Bush that there's a Latin American country that won't kiss his ass and do whatever the U.S. wants -- even if it's not in their best interest.

The Bush administration pays lip service to democracy and self-determination, but they don't really mean it. For rational people, self-determination and democracy means the people of a country have the right to choose their own government and leaders. But for Bush, it means they must choose leaders who will follow the policies and wishes of the United States.

Venezuela isn't playing that game any longer. They have elected a leader who does what is good for Venezuela -- Hugo Chavez. In fact, Chavez has been elected twice by large margins.

But that hasn't stopped Bush from trying to label Chavez as a dictator. Bush has made all kinds of false accusations against Chavez because he won't climb on the American imperialistic bandwagon. Since the "dictator" accusations aren't working, the Bush administration is now shifting the accusations against Chavez.

They now want to tar Chavez with the "drugs" brush. U.S. director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, John Walters, claimed recently that Chavez is aiding drug traffickers by allowing them to use his country to ship Columbian drugs to Europe and America. Walters said, "It goes beyond 'I can't do it' to 'I won't do it'. And 'I won't do it' means that 'I am colluding'."

The BBC's South American correspondent, Jeremy McDermott, says the accusation serves two purposes. The first is to show support for Columbia's president, who doesn't like Chavez. He was recently embarrassed by Chavez getting Columbian rebels to release some hostages they were holding.

The second is to pressure Chavez to cooperate with U.S. Drug enforcement policy, although I'm not sure what that's supposed to accomplish. The Columbian president has fully cooperated with U.S. drug agents, but it hasn't seemed to slow up the Columbian cocaine traffickers at all. Why would we think they could accomplish in Venezuela what they can't accomplish in Columbia?

I'll bet the U.S. government would get a lot more cooperation out of Chavez if they would stop the wild accusations and support for Chavez's opponents, recognize the right of Venezuelans to choose their own leaders, and make a real attempt to get along with the Venezuelan government -- without trying to strong-arm it.

Various Thoughts On A Friday

There's been a big furor over the latest idiotic and racist statements from the now former radio personality, Don Imus. Of course he's claiming he's not a racist - he just made a terrible mistake. Nonsense! The statement he made on nation-wide radio and TV speaks for itself.

Imus supporters would have you believe this is an isolated incident that he's being crucified for. That also is nonsense. This guy has been a slimeball for many years. I certainly won't be sorry to see him disappear from the airwaves.

But one of the most ridiculous stories on the Imus affair was on the LA Times website yesterday. It said the Democrats have lost a valuable resource by Imus being kicked off the airwaves - that he gave them a place to appeal to white males in this country. That is a ridiculous statement, and little more than an attempt to smear the Democratic Party. I'm sure Democrats can do just fine without Imus and his ilk.

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I have not remarked before about the TYC affair. Others have covered it very well - sites like Capitol Annex & Grits for Breakfast. But the Texas Senate has now proposed a couple of changes that I really think are needed and will help the agency to fulfill its mission.

First, they are proposing to cut the age of offenders committed to the agency. TYC would no longer accept 19 and 20 year olds as they currently do. This is a very good change. Like it or not, 19 and 20 year olds are adults, and are not likely to be helped by the youth-oriented programs of the Youth Commission.

Second, they propose to separate younger and non-violent offenders from the older and more violent offenders. This is another good change. Back in the seventies and eighties, the Youth Commission did this. I don't know why they changed the policy, but it will be good to get back to it.

Finally, let me say this. There are thousands of decent hard-working people working for the Texas Youth Commission, who are doing their best to protect and rehabilitate the young offenders committed to their care. Abusers must be flushed from the system, and changes need to be made to the system, but people should take care not to demonize the thousands of decent and innocent workers in the system. Most of these workers are happy to see changes are finally being made.

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Ten more American soldiers were killed over the last weekend in Iraq. Yesterday, a bomb blast went off inside the Iraqi Parliament, and insurgents blew up a bridge inside Baghdad. A few days ago, the most popular Shiite leader (Al-Sadr) called on his followers to attack American soldiers.

Is there anyone besides Bush, Cheney and McCain that thinks this new "troop surge" is accomplishing anything other than destroying our own military capabilities? How many more will have to die before our leaders come to their senses and bring our troops back home?

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I applaud the recent move by the University of Texas to honor two great Americans. By this Fall, they will be unveiling a statue on campus of Cesar Chavez. They are also in the process of choosing a likeness of Barbara Jordan, which will then also be made into a statue for the campus.

They couldn't have chosen two more worthy people to honor. These are the kind of American heroes I would like my children to emulate.