Making connections

So I was closing up shop last night at the tutoring place where I do some contract work at and the cleaning crew was on their way out.  One of the two of the crew wished me a good night. I replied almost automatically in Spanish, for some reason.

"Habla español?"  he asked with notable surprise.

"A veces" I responded.

He turned, walked back across the room, shook my hand, introduced himself and asked me where I was from. We chatted for about two minutes in Spanish.

Nice end to my day, and I'm glad I got to connect a bit with a side of the Texas workforce I suspect most Anglos take for granted and never really think about.  This Anglo for one will be thinking about them a bit more now.

I always feel a little nervous about speaking Spanish with the Hispanic population here, because I don't want to seem like I'm showing off and their English is generally much better than my Spanish. Still though,  the night cleaning man seemed to feel really validated when I addressed him in Spanish. I felt validated by his response. I hope Juan and his co-worker had a good night (and are able to get decent health insurance -- cleaners get paid badly down here)

Small victories. 

Voter guides and voting info, Texas-style

So who's on Row A?

We've got a lot of low-intensity, yet rather important local elections and state-wide amendments on the ballot.  To help disentangle the issues, here's a list of voting guides.

The folks at Burnt Orange Report check in with their votes on proposed constitutional amendments here.

Progress Texas has their own (slightly different) recommendations here

(Note, all these places giving endorsements come from a general left stance, which mirrors many of this blog's views)

For interviews with literally every (and not in the Joe Biden sense) candidate for local Houston or Harris County office, check out Charles Kuffner's site. Kuff has been doing great work on local politics for years and he also has coverage of important local bond issues like the prison bond and the Astrodome project, as well as local issues like Pasadena's proposed redistricting.

Also, here's a handy guide for what you'll need to vote in this state.

Please vote, and vote in an educated way on Tuesday.

Texas Adjustments Part V

So, now we're down to the local level.

I traded in Mayor John Hietfje of Ann Arbor:

And picked up Annise Parker:

 
Both are interesting. Hietfje may have overstayed his welcome in Ann Arbor, where he was first elected mayor in 2001. I was frustrated with how he treated city employee unions from time to time, as well as some of his budget-cutting moves toward fire and police protection. On the other hand, I was generally pleased with his environmental and transportation initiatives. The central city, which was already a nice place to live, continued to become much more walkable during my time there under his tenure in City Hall. Some (though not all) of the complaints against him were the result of clubby Ann Arbor townie stuffed shirts who had no clue about urban planning or development. And frankly, the opposition candidates who ran against him were absolutely laughable.

Parker is something of a liberal lion in southeast Texas, though a quietly pragmatic one. Houston is light years behind Ann Arbor in sustainability and livability, but Parker has hired a cracker jack sustainability director from San Fransisco, installed and expanded bike share, gotten curbside recycling off the ground, cleaned up a mess at Metro, worked with the county to improve parks, presided over the expansion of light rail and generally kept the metaphorical trains running on time.

I suspect she would make an excellent state comptroller (her old job in Houston) if Democrats can ever win a state-wide election again.

I'll give the edge here to Texas, just because of Parker's shiny (at least to a new resident) sheen.

I skipped over the state legislature as well -- I trade State Sen. Rebekah  Warren and Rep. Jeff Irwin, both solid progressive Dems (and lovely people) for State Sen. John Whitmere and Rep. Garent F. Colman, who seem at first glance to be quite adequate. Time will tell.

Enough with politics -- future installments will include really important things, like food. Texas should be able to do better here than in the political section.

Texas voting #headdesk blogging II: Bring your concealed-carry permit to the polls

So, Texas has a Voter Photo ID law, which is spelled out in great detail on my new voter registration card -- it takes up the entire back of the card. (Maybe that's why they don't have room for extraneous information, like say, the location of my polling place. Sigh.)

Voter ID. OK, so what's acceptable ID, Texas?

"The following forms of voter identification ... may be accepted for voting: Driver's license; election identification certificate; personal identification card or concealed handgun license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety; United States Military identification card that contains the person's photograph; United States citizenship certificate that contains person's photograph; or a United States Passport."

Right. A photo ID from a state college or university or state agency apparently isn't official enough. But boy, if you have a gun, that sends you right to the front of the line. 

Because it's getting old to detail all of the reasons why photo ID for voting is unnecessary and discriminatory, I'll link to a quick list here.

On the bright side though, at least they accept a passport for the present -- sometimes Texas officials don't really like to acknowledge the authority of the United States.  

May God help this state, 'cuz its political leaders sure won't.

And on a related note Godspeed to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Texas voting #headdesk blogging

So, I got my Texas voting registration card in the mail last week.  I'll be eligible to vote in November, which is great.  The card lists my address, my precinct number and all my district numbers for all my relevant office holders. It does so in English and Spanish.

But - unlike every other election card I've ever received, they don't tell me where my polling place is. And they don't even tell me where to go to find out where your polling place is.

Sure, I can probably do that online fairly easily, but it's an entirely unnecessary step and adds another cost to the voter.

It's like they don't want you to vote here or something....

Texas Adjustments Part IV

Enough with the federal delegations, time to head to the State level.

When I fled south, I got to leave Rick "Governor Nerd" Snyder, Michigan's CEO:

And when I crossed the border at Texarkana, I inherited Rick "Governor Hair" Perry, Texas' CEO.

Ugh. Both men are complete Richards who go by Rick. They are also both obscenely Rich. And, not incidentally, they both have acted like complete Dicks during their terms in office.

I'm thankful Snyder actually understood the need to expand Medicaid in Michigan -- and pushed for it. But I will never, ever, ever forgive Snyder for signing "Right-to-Work" legislation in Michigan. End of story -- the man is dead to me.

Perry, well, there's not enough space here to talk about him. From the death penalty, to guns, to threatening the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to showing zero compassion and intelligence with regard to health reform, to his stupid secession talk; I sure hope the door smacks his butt hard on his way out in January, 2015. Of course, we're probably going to get some one even worse, so... sigh.

Anyhow, this one is a push -- preferably off a cliff, Thelma-and-Louise-style. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to read a few Molly Ivins columns with a stiff drink nearby.

Texas Adjustments Part III

So let's move to the House of Representatives.

From my old Ann Arbor district, we have John Dingell:

In my new west Houston district, we have Ted Poe.

According to Project VoteSmart, Poe actually received a voting score of above 20 percent from the SEIU on several occasions in the last decade. He also took a recent surprising, yet gratifying stance taken in favor of getting federal funds for the University Light Rail line. Of course, on everything else, he's terrible, but those two facts alone make him Nelson Rockefeller by the usually Neanderthal standards of the Texas House delegation.

But still, Dingell is the real deal -- His dad was an original New Dealer and Dingell has been voting like one ever since, supporting Medicare, Medicaid, worker safety, unemployment insurance, higher minimum wages. He's introduced a universal health care bill on the House floor on the first day of every session he's been in Congress. Some of his stances on guns and the environment weren't perfect, but he's swung quite a bit on greenhouse gas regulation over the last decade. He's also remarkably coherent and thoughtful for a man who's 87 years old -- he might be a bit frail physically but the brain is still working hard.  Advantage, Michigan.

Stupid statement contest: Texas congressional delegation division

I like to write more about public policy and political science than politicians saying silly things. But living in Texas not only forces you to live with terrible public policy, but a lot of terrible officials saying terrible things to advocate for terrible public policy. To avoid going out of your mind, you just have to point derisively and mock them sometimes. One of the silver linings of having to move to Texas is that there are a lot of people to laugh at (Everything is bigger here, including the class of twit political representatives.)

Incidentally, Molly Ivins (rest her Lone-Star-swilling soul) parlayed that silver lining into a very successful career.

So follow me below the fold for this week’s six contestants for the stupidest thing said by a member of Texas’ GOP congressional delegation this week.

Texas Adjustments Part II

Round II:  U.S. Senate

So I've gone from this guy, Carl Levin:

To this guy, John Cornyn:

On a raw sex appeal scale of 1-10 we go from about a -4 to a 3.2, so that's something. I guess.

But Levin's legendary comb over and school-librarian reading glasses have a certain so-bad-they're-totally-awesome charm to them.

And three months of listening to Cornyn spout absurdities during Senate Finance Committee hearings on health-care reform make this choice clear. Michigan takes round II.