We Have To Do Better

One of the best responses to the horrific shootings in Dallas came from former congresswoman Gabby Giffords (who was herself a victim of gun violence). She wrote this on her Facebook page:

This morning, Americans woke to reports of carnage on the streets of Dallas. As they worked to protect peaceful citizens demanding justice for killings in Louisiana and Minnesota, five law enforcement officers were set upon with firearms and assassinated.

We don’t know all the facts, but we do know this is a monstrous attack against our law enforcement community and the idea that we can and should come together as Americans to address our shared challenges. Not only was it murder in cold blood; it was a vicious attempt to divide us, and it will fail.

It is also another sad reminder that our nation remains in the grips of a gun violence crisis that touches every community and everyone - those who wear the uniform, and those who do not. This is not the America we strive for. We have to do better, and we can.

Rachel Pleads For Democracy In Texas Democratic Party

The following is the latest message from Rachul Barrios-Van Os to the Democratic Party delegates that will be attending the convention in Dallas on June 26th through 28th.

I'm fighting for a Texas Democratic Party that is a 

party of the people, not a party of insider deals and anti-democratic machine politics. We have to be a true party of the people to inspire a majority of Texas voters to cast their votes for our candidates. 

One example of what I'm fighting against occurred when Glen Maxey, a fulltime paid Party staff member entitled Director of County Affairs, emailed a resolution to county and senate district party leaders before the county and senate district conventions asking the conventions to endorse Gilberto Hinojosa's candidacy for re-election as state party chair. As a fulltime party staff member Mr. Maxey should adhere to strict neutrality in internal party elections, but that is not the case under the administration of Chair Hinojosa, who sees nothing wrong with using the party machinery as a personal political machine. When I was growing up in the Southside of San Antonio this is what people called patrón politics, and they didn't like it.

 And now Mr. Hinojosa has sent all the convention delegates an email claiming that various senate districts have endorsed him, obviously intending to make the delegates think their votes have already been decided. But you have a free right to cast your delegate vote however you choose. Nobody can instruct any delegate how to vote at the Texas Democratic Party Convention, as Unit Rule voting is strictly forbidden by Texas Democratic Party Rules, Article IV, Section 4.e.: "The use of the unit rule or the practice of instructing delegations shall not be permitted at any level of the convention process."

 When Mr. Maxey, on behalf of Mr. Hinojosa, asked senate district and county conventions to pass pre-emptive resolutions endorsing Mr. Hinojosa for re-election, the filing deadline to run for party chair was still in the future and I was still weighing the very serious decision of whether to run. When I saw this crude anti-democratic action coming from the state party leadership I decided I had to take a stand, because I have learned from spending my adult life as a grass roots activist this is the kind of thing that turns people away from politics. The simple fact is that our party itself must be a true model of democracy if we hope to make more people feel welcome in order to broaden our political base of support to win Texas back.

 What I am fighting for is a democratic Texas Democratic Party, a party of the people leading the way to government of the people. Please join me in this fight. 

What she says is true. This resolution was introduced in my own county convention (Potter County), and although I opposed it and voted against it, it was passed. I agree with Rachel that this resolution was improper. The party's chairman should be elected by party delegates voting their conscience -- not voting to fulfill some resolution. And this is a major reason that I will be voting for Rachel Barrios-Van Os at the convention. I urge my fellow delegates to do the same.

Texas Democratic Party Needs New Leadership

It seems that the current party leadership is no better than past leadership -- mistakenly believing that progressives can't win in Texas (and encouraging candidates to run as conservatives). I have said several times that this is a mistake -- that Democrats need to offer the voters a real progressive choice. There's no reason for people to go vote if it's just a choice between right-wingers.

Fortunately, there is someone running for state party chair -- someone that is not ashamed to be a progressive and knows that Democrats do better when they stand up for their progressive values. That person is Rachel Barrios-Van Os. She ran for party chair in 2012 and came up short, but she has tossed her hat in the ring again. I'll be voting for her at the convention, and I urge other delegates to do the same. Here is her letter to  state delegates:

Greetings, Fellow Delegates. I am Rachel Barrios-Van Os and I am a candidate for the office of State Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Texas belongs to the People, not to the corporations, and definitely not to the Republican Party.

It's time we take back Texas and take back the reins of power from the rich and powerful who solely care about themselves and care nothing about the middle class or the under-privileged.

Everybody counts - not just the rich, everybody should count and that includes the poor and those who are less fortunate. In order for our society to continue to prosper and grow we must leave no one behind. Unfortunately our schools are failing us and our children are getting left behind more and more because some of our elected officials and leaders in government are ignoring what needs to be done to educate and improve the lives of our children.

We must insist on higher standards and higher ethical values to become a stronger party and to elect good-hearted, caring, ethical and honorable candidates who will work for the betterment of our society and its people.

  

We need an organized party that truly cares for the people. We need to connect with the people and communities of Texas all year long and not just during election season. Once the people know we care about them and that we will fight for them the voters will come back again to the Democratic Party but it takes more than sending emails and 'targeting'. The only targeting we need to do is to target Texas- and I mean the whole state of Texas not just the big 5 (Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Ft. Worth and Houston). We need to embrace each and every voter in every community across Texas and that includes the rural areas as well. Every vote counts! Every voter across Texas wants to feel that they have a voice in their community and with the right type of leadership at the top of the Texas Democratic Party we can change the course of history and turn Texas BLUE again! 

The secret to success in a political party is working with the people from the bottom up - not the top down. We need to go back to our roots because grass-roots campaigning is what we did when we used to win.

The next state party chair will be elected by the delegates at the State Convention in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday afternoon June 28, 2014. I look forward to seeing you there. Thank you for your consideration. It's time to win - Together we can make great things happen!

   

Thank you for your time and dedication to democracy in the hopes of great things to come for all the people of Texas.   

Viva Democracy!!!

Of, By and For the People,

Rachel

I Got Slapped Down By The Texas Democratic Party

The Democratic Party Convention in Texas will be held on June 26 through 28 in Dallas, and as I have for a while now, I requested press credentials from the party. While my blog is not huge, it does have over 2,000,000 page views, and the party has given me those credentials for every convention since 2006 -- so I didn't think there would be any problem getting them again this year. I was wrong.

I was notified by the Deputy Communications Director (Lisa Paul) yesterday that my request for credentials has been denied "due to an overwhelming interest". In other words, back when you couldn't convince the mainstream media to cover the Democratic convention, they were happy to give credentials to bloggers -- but now that the mainstream media is showing some interest in their candidates, the party has no use for us bloggers.

Actually, I have no idea whether they are doing this to all Texas political bloggers, or just me (because I have recently spoke out against the party's recent move to the right again -- just like in the past). If it's all bloggers, then I think that's short-sighted (because regardless of what the state leadership may think, they are not yet popular enough to be dumping their friends). If it's just me, then I take that as a personal insult. I would love to hear from some of you other Texas bloggers -- were you also denied?

It seems to me that the state party may be getting "too big for their britches". At any rate, they've made it clear they neither want nor need me. I guess I now need to decide if the feeling is mutual.

NOTE -- I will be going to the convention anyway, since I have already paid for airline tickets and a hotel. And I will try to post as much as I can from the convention. I just won't have access to the press room wi-fi -- so I'll have to wait until I get back to my hotel each night.

**UPDATE**
I received a call from Ms. Paul today. She says the party will be issuing me press credentials at the convention this year -- and said my denial was a "clerical error". I don't know if that's true or not (since I'm a naturally suspicious person), but I'm happy to be back on the approved list.

Singer Strips In Dealey Plaza

On March 17th (St. Patrick's Day), R & B singer Erykah Badu (a Dallas native) took off all her clothes near Dealey Plaza in the West end of downtown Dallas. She did this for a video of her song "Window Seat" on her newly released album New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh.

The video shoot was very low key, using only one camera and one take. As she walks down the sidewalk, she removes all of her clothes. When she reaches the point on Elm street where JFK was shot in 1963, a rifle shot is heard, her head snaps back and she crumples to the ground.

Ms. Badu (pictured) said she was making a statement against "groupthink". She went on to say, "I was petrified while shooting this video. . .but liberation began to set in. I conquered many fears in that few moments. I been naked all along in my words, actions and deeds. That's the real vulnerable place."

The Dallas police said Ms. Badu would not be arrested or ticketed for the public nudity, because no one in that area at the time was upset enough to call the police. But now, a week later, it seems that city officials are getting upset. They are saying she broke a city ordinance by failing to get a permit to shoot the video.

That statement is more than a bit disingenuous, since they know full well that they would not have given her a permit to shoot a nude video in Dealey Plaza. The "guerilla shoot" was the only way the video could have been done.

Frankly, I just find the incident humorous. Our puritanical society makes far too much of being offended by nudity (and sex too). It happened and it's over. It's silly to try and make a big deal out of it a week later. I will admit though that even though public nudity doesn't offend me, there aren't many people I would really care to see naked, and I'm sure no one would want to see me that way.

What do you think? Were Ms. Badu's actions offensive and culturally horrible? Or is this just much ado about nothing and not worth worrying about?

Dallas Gets Some Bad News

Yesterday, Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle announced that he will retire in April of 2010. This verified what City Manager Mary Suhm had already told the City Council. This is not good news for the city of Dallas.

Chief Kunkle has been on the job in Dallas since May 2004. He was hired away from the city of Arlington, and has been a breath of fresh air when compared to the list of failures that preceded him. When Kunkle assumed the job, the crime rate was very high and many groups in the city felt like they were being picked on by police. There were a lot of bad feelings.

Chief Kunkle has turned all that around and provided the leadership to make the Dallas Police Department respected again. He has reached out to all groups in the city and convinced them they will have their concerns heard and addressed, and he has done it all in a low-key and respectful way.

During his five year tenure, he has presided over a 32% decrease in violent crimes and a 34% decrease in homicides. In addition, the department has had fewer deadly-force incidents and fewer in-custody deaths.

Chief Kunkle has done an excellent job for the city of Dallas. I hope his replacement is as competent as he turned out to be.

Driving While Hispanic Is NOT A Crime

A week or so ago, Ernestina Mondragon was driving in Dallas and made an illegal u-turn. She was ticketed for that and found guilty by a judge. There is no problem with that. She broke a traffic law and will have to pay a fine.

The problem is with another ticket she was given by the Dallas police officer. She was also ticketed for driving a car without being able to speak English. I am amazed that this ticket was given. Even most ordinary citizens in Texas know that there is no law requiring an ability to speak English to be able to drive. How could a policeman, who is supposed to know the law, make such an egregious mistake?

The judge did dismiss the ridiculous ticket, and Dallas Police Chief Kunkle apologized for the patrolman's mistake. The bad thing is that Chief Kunkle also admitted that the Dallas Police Department has issued 38 of these tickets in the last three years!

Let me make that clear. The Dallas Police Department has for the last three years issued more than one ticket a month for a driver not being an English-speaker! What is going on? What is the cause of so many of these illegal tickets being issued?

Either the Dallas Police Department is failing to properly train their officers on the law, or there are some immigrant-hating racist officers in the department trying to enforce their own personal brand of justice. I hope it is the former, because that can and should be fixed with better training. The latter is far more troublesome.

NOTE -- There is a law requiring drivers of public transportation (buses and taxis) to be able to speak English. But this law does not extend to (and was never meant to extend to) ordinary drivers in their own cars.

Naked Dancer In Dallas

There are definitely some strange (and sick) people in this world. For instance, consider this weirdo in Dallas. He seems to think others just can't wait to see his 6 foot pudgy body with "pasty white skin".

Dallas police say the unknown man (or should I say "sex offender") has been entering the backyards of other people and dancing naked. He either dances naked around the backyard or jumps naked into the pool. He did one of his dances on top of an air conditioner unit.

This nut has been doing this since 2005, and police want to catch him before he escalates his activity into a more serious type of sex crime.

The man keeps his face covered during his nocturnal dances, and the last time he struck was on September 30th of this year (about a week ago).

He needs to hope the police catch him soon. This is Texas, and a whole lot of people are armed. Not to mention the fact that you can shoot someone on your own property here for nearly any reason.

One of these days this jerk is going to get a butt-full of birdshot.

Dallas City Council Screwing Up

The Dallas City Council has gotten themselves into a fine mess now. They got it through their heads that with the new Trinity River Project moving ahead, Industrial Blvd. needed a new name. Evidently, Industrial Blvd. wasn't a pretty enough name to go with their new project, even though the street has borne that name for many years and no one has complained.

I think they wanted to rename the street "Trinity River Parkway", but instead of just doing that they got cute. They decided to throw a bone to the minority communities in Dallas by letting the people vote on the new name. They tossed in "Eddie Bernice Johnson" for the African-Americans and "Cesar Chavez" for the Hispanics. There were about five choices in all, and they asked the community to log in and vote by computer.

But then, something unexpected happened. "Cesar Chavez" won the computer poll. In fact, it didn't just win the poll, it got as many votes as all the other choices put together. The "sleeping giant" that was the Hispanic community in Dallas has awakened and flexed their political muscle.

So what does the city council do? They put off making a decision until August. Maybe they were hoping Hispanics would forget by then. But that isn't going to happen. Several Hispanic groups are now demanding they honor the outcome of the poll they conducted.

I agree. If the council didn't want to honor the votes cast, they shouldn't have asked citizens to cast them. "Cesar Chavez" won by a landslide, and that is what the new name of Industrial Blvd. should be.

Anything else would be an insult to the voters, and that could have serious political reprecussions.

Dallas Church Offers "Sanctuary" To Homeless

A downtown Dallas church is trying to help the homeless by opening their parking lot to them at night. The First Presbyterian Church provides a security guard and two portable toilets, and has declared their parking lot a safe zone where the homeless can sleep without being hassled by Dallas Police.

Dallas is not the best city to be homeless in, as they have recently tended to criminalize many activities of the homeless, as well as not having nearly enough beds in existing night shelters. While there are around 5,000 homeless people in Dallas, there are only 1,300 available beds.

In addition to the police rousting those who must sleep on the streets, Dallas has outlawed panhandling, banned shopping carts on city streets and restricted feeding the homeless to only certain designated areas.

Senior pastor of the church, Rev. Joe Clifford, says, "The problem is with our approach to the homeless. We continue to approach the homeless issue as a criminal issue. While there are criminal elements within the homeless population, it is a social problem and requires a societal response."

The church realizes this is only a temporary solution. Clifford is calling for more long-term investment. He wants the city government, business interests and community churches to get together and try to find solutions to the homeless problem. It will really help when a city homeless shelter opens in April.

Until then, the church is using its parking lot as a sanctuary where the homeless can sleep in a safe environment without being hassled by police. So far, the Dallas police have cooperated. They have not bothered anyone or tried to arrest anyone on the church property.

Deputy Police Chief Golbeck says he doesn't really condone the "safe zone", but understands the church has its mission. He did however, rather ominously wonder if other city departments might not determine the church didn't have the proper permits to continue providing the sanctuary.

Sounds like he knows it would be bad PR for the police to break up the "safe zone" and expects the city to find another way to do it.

Be careful Reverend. In Texas, most good deeds don't go unpunished.