I promised pictures a couple of weeks ago from when my parents came to visit from The Great White North. So here goes:
The Acolyte gets Cheetos from Grandpa. Mrs. T was not amused.
The Acolyte gets a tricycle from Grandpa.
The Acolyte and his Uncle ELB at the park.
Me at the park.
The Acolyte with his grandparents.
Mrs. T and I have been taking weekend roadtrips to various cities and towns in recent months scouting potential homesteads. I know, we just moved, but that move was unexpected and it was from one rental to another. We're talking now of "The Big One," the move that will come complete with a mortgage and, even more, raise me to a whole other social echelon, The Landed Gentry. That's right, I'll finally be able to vote for real, like the framers of the Constitution intended, as a property owner.
Since my office is in my house we're not bound too close to where we are now. I did rule out Beijing for obvious reasons. (I'll be drinking RC and eating at Burger King quite a bit this summer. For a full list of companies I won't be doing business with check out this page.) But I digress. Most of my jobs are in south Texas though, so about a year ago we started researching areas around San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, Houston and all the little towns in between. As we'd visit places, we'd strike them off our list. Very few places we visited stayed on our list. By this morning we only had a handful of places left. So when we hopped in the car this morning I was bracing for another let down. But when we arrived at our destination, Mrs. T and I agreed we had found our home. And the winning city is...
Round Rock is a town of about 100,000 people just north of Austin. It's close enough to Austin that we won't miss special events. It's got a great school district. It's got an IKEA. But most importantly, it's got the grave of a famous train robber that The Acolyte just loves:
Estimated move-in date: December 2009.
I shot this picture in the parking lot of my hotel near McAllen, Texas several weeks ago. Thought I'd share it.
For those of you who don't have Facebook, you can now play the Traveler IQ challenge without it. If you beat my score of 152 though I'll be forced to hate you.
The Web's Original Travel Blog.
As I mentioned earlier, my evil little brother is in town. He's buzzing around Texas in his C-5 this month. These are pictures the boom operator took of him yesterday morning while they were refueling.
I'm here, but so is my brother, and I'm expecting my folks in later this week. Preparing for company and working down in the valley the past several weeks hasn't been conducive to blogging. Stay tuned though because after the family's gone I suspect I'll have pictures to share.
I arrived at my Senatorial Convention at 7:45 am yesterday morning and we didn't adjourn until midnight. We're talking 16 hours of raw drama folks and there's no way I could recount it all here in one post. But I'll do my best. San Antonio held four different conventions, I attended the one for Senate District 19.
Our convention received some media coverage, which is about as good a place to start as any. Check out these video clips. This is linked directly to Democratic Meltdown in San Antonio. This link you'll have to scroll down and click on Democratic Caucus Causes Confusion, posted on 3-29-08, but it's worth watching if anything just to see the fire department denying delegates entry into the meeting!
Alright, now for the full chronological review. I got a phone call last week from an Obama campaign person telling me that the venue for our convention had changed. Originally it was set for the Lila Cockeral Theater, but because of other events taking place in the city, there turned out not to be enough parking available. So they changed the location to Martin Alvarez & Company-- a party supply store with a large warehouse. I arrived at 7:45 because I wanted to ensure I could find a place to park my F-350 (it's always a challenge taking that thing downtown.) I had no problem finding a spot.
There was already a substantial number of people there and the temporary chair ordered registration to go ahead and begin early, at 8:00 instead of 8:30. The line moved quickly and efficiently, until I got to be third in line. They stopped the line for about 10 minutes. Since I was up front, I could see what was happening. Registration started, but they didn't have the rolls of registered delegates to check against and weren't handing out credentials. So all those folks that signed in did so for nothing. They wanted to keep the line stopped until the badges and rolls arrived (which made absolute sense and was the proper thing to do) but the chair came out and insisted folks keep signing in. So they started the line back up and I signed in without receiving my credentials. I was told I could pick them up later.
I then ran over to where the Credentials Committee meeting was trying to get underway. But there were problems. A state advisory highly recommended that all committees be balanced equally between the Clinton and Obama camps. Of course, our District wanted nothing to do with that and proportioned committees according to some other measure, giving Clinton about a 2/3 majority on all the committees. Apparently there was some last minute power-broking going on in the days leading up to the convention where it was agreed that at the very least the Credentials Committee should be evenly balanced. The Obama people had a letter signed by the Temporary Chair and other officials stating that four specifically named people should be added to Credentials. The Clinton folks were having nothing of it and were throwing every possible technical reason to disregard the proposal. Eventually the Chair intervened (he's a Hillary guy by the way) and ordered the Obama folks to be added.
Now, one of the four people named was GG. GG was the Obama precinct captain at my precinct caucus. She's the one who called the attorney and handed me the phone when I was trying to stop the illegal early sign-in. She was a huge help in keeping our delegation informed about the County/Senatorial District Convention. Anyway, as soon as the Credentials Committee accepted the letter, one of the Obama people asked, "Where's GG?" I was just observing, but told them she was helping at the registration table. They told me to go get her. So I ran from the front of the building, down and around the warehouse to the loading dock. The registration tables sat along the dock as if on stage and the line serpentined at ground level. Registrants would go up a set of stairs on the right and leave on the left. To avoid the registration traffic I cut across a small path on the side directly onto the stage and told GG they needed her at Credentials. She said she was swamped and for me to take her place. So I ran back and reported that to Credentials. They said no can do, go get her. I ran back and told her they need her, she said to tell them she'd be there in three minutes. I started back, but now some guy was standing in the middle of my little short-cut path telling me I couldn't pass there and that I had to go around in the crowd. I told him I was doing urgent business for a committee. He held his arms out, saying "No, sir, go around, no sir." I figured that since nobody there other than the Chair and the Constable had greater authority than me, I had the right to pass, so I ducked under the guy's arm and kept moving. Behind I could here, "Officer! There goes another one! He pushed me! I want him off the property NOW!" I kept moving at a good clip, but was never told to stop by a cop and got to the Credentials meeting in time to make sure they didn't start before GG arrived.
About 15 minutes later, the Smith family approached me and asked me what that whole confrontation was about. The Smith's are members of my delegation, a father/mother/daughter each a delegate for Obama. They saw the fray from a distance. I told them what happened. Then Mr. Smith laughed and told me the rest of the story. Apparently the guy who tried to stop me was Martin Alvarez, the owner of the property. He had a cop and was trying to convince him to chase me down, when Mr. Smith intervened on my behalf. The cop told Mr. Alvarez to cool off. I wasn't the first guy he'd tried to throw out that day and the cops knew if they bounced everybody out that Alvarez wanted out there'd be a riot. So, thanks to Mr. Smith and professional law enforcement, I still have a clean criminal record!
At 10 o'clock I attended the Rules Committee meeting. I was actually on that committee and I can proudly say, we were probably the most civilized group at this thing. We adopted the Texas Democratic Party rules with the addition to ban noise-makers, like blow horns and whistles, and agreed to keep debate limited to 2 minutes per person, 3 people per side, and that's about it.
After my meeting I stood in a line for 2 hours to get my credentials! I struck up a conversation with a fellow UU so the time passed pleasantly enough. When we got to the front, my UU buddy's name was not on the list! She was told she'd have to go stand in the challenges line, which was just as long as the one we just went through. She was livid, but I promised I'd attend a church service sometime soon and see her again. I was next in line and they found my name, but I noticed that they had my presidential preference on the list as Clinton! As I was correcting that I realized that my entire delegation's preference had been flipped! Apparently after I turned in my paperwork to the County Party Office (which I did in person) whoever plugged my information into the system decided to have a little fun. Turned out that many precincts had been flipped.
Now it was around noon. The warehouse was too small to hold alternates, so Obama and Clinton alternates in my precinct grabbed a table out front. I checked in with them and encouraged them to hang tough. Then I went in to see if all my delegates had shown up. 11/12 of our Obama people were there, but only 3/6 of our Clinton people were there. I went back out and said we'd need to bump one Obama person to delegate status and 3 Clinton people. To do that I had to go to the Credentials Committee. The four alternates followed me to the door of the business office. They'd only let me in since I was a committee member, the alternates waited outside. When I got down the hall I could hear shouting. I walked into the Credentials room and they sat sullenly around the table. Mr. Alvarez was screaming, saying he was shutting down the whole operation, saying that people outside were pushing and cussing at him and accused the leadership of "hiding" in the office while chaos reigned outside. "Call your attorneys, do whatever you have to do, but you have ONE HOUR TO CLEAR THE PREMISES!"
Needless to say, all committee work had come to a grinding halt. I left the room and rejoined my alternates outside. Just as I was about to speak, I heard, "SIR!, SIR!" I turned around and it was a grey-haired woman from the Credentials committee glaring at me sternly. As soon as I made eye contact with her she put her finger over her mouth telling me to hush. I lifted my index finger and gave her a nod of acknowledgment, then turned to my alternates. Of course the first words out of their mouths were, "What the hell?" The grey-haired lady came closer, within ear-shot, so I explained that Credentials was currently overwhelmed and that they'll handle matters like ours later. As soon as the lady left I told them that Alvarez was in there throwing a fit trying to kick us out. Again, grey-haired lady had no right to silence me. These committee meeting were supposed to be open to the public, but access was limited because of size and they had a cop posted at the door only letting in people who were either on a committee or "approved" by a credentials committee member. So the whole fit Alvarez threw should have been public knowledge anyway.
The alternates went back to their table to hang tight a little longer. I rejoined my delegation inside. The Chair started the meeting. First thing on the agenda, the Pledge of Allegiance. Problem was, there was no flag! The Chair went to the microphone and asked the assembly, "Does anyone have a flag?" There was some mumbling, then we heard cheers. "Yes? Come on up here." A young female Clinton supporter started strolling up the aisle waving one of these:
Actually, it was a cap, not a do-rag, but with this design. Once more people saw what she had, there were boos from the crowd. The Chair recognized that a cap would be unacceptable and asked again if there was a proper flag. The Pledge was eventually given to one of these:
This was a major embarrassment. I don't get bent out of shape over much, but if one thing was ever instilled in me growing up as an Army Brat it's that you respect that flag and what it stands for. And if you're going to have a Pledge on your agenda you should damn well be prepared.
Anyway, shortly after all this there was an announcement that cars parked at X location needed to be moved. I was parked at X location. So off I went to find a space for my F-350 in what was now a very congested area. Luckily I found a spot near Sam's Burger Joint. I learned earlier that day that part of the deal for getting the Warehouse was that Mr. Alvarez would have exclusive concessions, no food in or out, but you could buy a $5 burger on site. After the treatment I got from the jerk I decided to personally boycott his concessions. So I stopped into Sam's and had myself a beer. There I met a fellow named Fargo, also an Obama delegate out moving his car. We had a good talk then walked back to the warehouse. When we got there a firetruck was pulled up front with its lights on. When I tried to enter and rejoin my delegation I was denied entry by a fireman. The fire marshal said we were overcrowded and started moving people out. The Chair told people to go out and do their caucusing outside. Once the warehouse was cleared out I was able to go in and ask what to do about alternates. I was told to go ahead and use them and they'd verify it all later. Not only was that wrong, but we shouldn't have been caucusing yet anyway because the Credentials committee still hadn't worked through all the challenges. I learned later that Credentials essentially gave up, so people in line, like my UU buddy were just told to go ahead and participate. That is to say, people whose names didn't appear on the lists of registered delegates, whether properly or improperly, were told to go ahead and all given credentials. That means that any one of you reading this post could have simply sat outside in this line and received credentials.
We went ahead a caucused. Our precinct got to elect our own delegate. Folks were ready to throw their support behind me, but I withdrew consideration because of a scheduling conflict I have with the State Convention in June. I endorsed GG and she won. The rules state there's one vote and that the second place nominee becomes alternate, so one of the Clintonites got that. But later we learned that our Obama alternate that we bumped up to delegate status was selected as an At-Large delegate. So my precinct is sending two of its own off to State to vote for Obama. The convention as a whole went 2/1 for Hillary, but state-wide Obama's spanking Hillary 2/1. (San Antonio and south/southwest Texas is die-hard Clinton country.) Soon after the caucusing finished the crowd died down. Lots of folks went home. That meant we could all fit back into the warehouse.
The next several hours passed in a blur of motions, calls of order and false accusations. My two favorite false accusations were 1) The temporary chair declared before the assembly that the Republicans conspired with the Fire Department to shut our convention down and that we prevailed! and 2) A Clintonite accused the Obama committee that was selecting its At-Large delegates of "locking themselves in their room" and deliberately withholding their decision in order for Clinton people to tire and go home. This second claim was made by the same butt-nugget on the Credentials committee that tried to keep GG and the other three new Obama members off the committee. As soon as he made that statement, I ran in the back and told them. They were just making sure their delegates were apportioned according to the rules, taking into account age, gender race and sexual orientation (yes, there was a square in the sign-in sheet asking if you were straight, gay, lesbian, bi or transgender.)
I spent that latter part of the evening recording irregularities and contact information for people who had stories. We filed a minority report and passed on more than enough ammunition to the Obama campaign to file a challenge if they feel the need to do so. We figure Hilldog is going to challenge every caucus that didn't go her way, so I'm sure Obama would like to return the favor.
The meeting adjourned at midnight. I went back to Sam's Burger Joint with Fargo and a few other delegates to throw back some much needed beer. Finally got home at a quarter till 2.
I don't even know where to begin. Tuesday morning around 10 o'clock I waited in a short line to cast my vote in the Texas Democratic Primary. While in line I saw a sign that said to come back at 7 o'clock that evening to participate in the caucus. I had never participated in a caucus, so when I got home I went online and did some homework. I visited both the Clinton and Obama websites for strategy and went to the Texas Democratic Party website for the rules. What I learned was simple... those who know the rules control the process.
The first voter to request the "rule packet" from the precinct judge after the polls have closed receives the packet and can become temporary precinct chair. The temporary chair then has people sign in, verifies that everyone who signed in voted in the primary, then holds an election for permanent precinct chair who takes over the meeting.
But that's not how it went down. There were two precincts meeting at my polling station. At 7:15 Clinton supporters had acquired the rule packets for both precincts and one of the precincts (not mine, but the other) began signing people in. Problem was there were still people in line waiting to vote! I pulled out my trusty iPhone and pulled up the Rules from the internet and accused the Clintonites of signing people in illegally. Turned out, an Obama precinct captain heard my accusations and called an Obama attorney and handed me her cell phone. I was instructed to report the episode to the precinct judge who then came out and confiscated the sign-in sheets. The Clintonites in that precinct weren't happy with me because they had signed Clinton people in and told them they could go home! (Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!) This, despite the fact that on the front of the packet was a sticker that read as follows:
ATTENTION CONVENTION CHAIRS!
The Precinct Convention may not start, including signing in, until every voter has finished voting, even if it is very late. This decision was made by TDP Chair, Boyd Richie in conjunction with both the Clinton & Obama national campaigns.
The polls finally closed around 9 o'clock. By now it was dark and bitter cold. Our polling station was in the parking lot of a fire department. There were no lights and only one restroom. I spoke with the firemen and had them roll a firetruck around so we could use its headlights for light. The Clintonites in my precinct appreciated my understanding of the rules and actually nominated me to be permanent precinct chair! The Obama folks loved it and I won the position uncontested! (At this point I was given the rules packet and saw the sticker I mentioned above for the fist time.) When it came to permanent secretary Clintonites made a pitch that in fairness, the secretary should be a Clintonite. This met with boos from the crowd. I opened the floor to nominations and an Obama supporter won secretary.
We had 136 voters sign in for our precinct convention, 46 Clinton supporters and 90 Obama supporters. (Keep in mind, my precinct did not sign people in early and tell people to go home, so this was a fair representation.) So our precinct's 18 delegates were divided 12 for Obama and 6 for Hilldog-- yours truly being the Delegation Chair as we head to the Senatorial Convention later in the month. The meeting adjourned shortly after 11 PM and I called in the results to the party.
Now this is what sickens me: Clinton forces charge Obama camp with irregularities! Clearly there were irregularities, but for Hilldog to place the blame on Obama is an outrage.
The next morning I woke up with a fever of 103 degrees-- probably from standing out in the cold for so long Tuesday night without a coat! I'm happy to report that my fever finally broke this afternoon, but that's why it's taken so long to post on this whole fiasco.
Shifting gears now, I want to address the criticism I'm likely to get from my loyal readership who might note my outspoken support for Ralph Nader in past elections. You might recall that I signed a pledge prior to the Congressional vote authorizing George Bush's invasion of Iraq stating that I'd never again vote for a Democratic candidate who supports Bush's war. I was bound by my word in '04 and couldn't in good conscience vote for John Kerry. Earlier in this primary race I endorsed Bill Richardson simply because he was the most qualified guy running-- and he was an outspoken critic of the war from the get-go. The field was narrowed down to my two least favorite candidates by the time I got to vote. Nonetheless, I'm willing to fight for Obama all the way to the White House. I can't say so much for Hillary who's more concerned about her nomination than the health of the Democratic Party. She did after all say that she and John McCain both bring a lifetime of experience to the table while Obama only has a speech he delivered in 2004. That is, she ranks a fellow Democrat below John McCain for competency!
We watched Bill Clinton drive the Democratic Party further and further to the right allowing the Republicans to do the same. And from the sound of Hillary's comment, she won't be any different. All I ask is for Democrats to act like Democrats again.
So all you Hillary-backers know this. I'm doing everything I possibly can to "play ball" with the party. But you're on notice... I pledged never to vote for a Democratic candidate who supported the war in Iraq. And I stand by my word. If Clinton is the Democratic nominee, then I'll be bound to vote for Nader in November. It may be counter-intuitive, but my tactic favors the health of the Democratic party far more than going on national television, as Hillary did, and stating that your party's leading candidate is less qualified than the Republican nominee.
ITEM!
The past three weeks have absolutely sucked. Mrs. T has been fighting off the flu resulting in her pushing back scheduled business trips. I've been trying to juggle my schedule around hers and it's been a nightmare. I finally knocked out what I needed to do out of town now, so the pressure's finally off. Mrs. T is rebounding as well.
ITEM!
My maternal grandmother died back in 1991. This Wednesday we lost the last of her siblings, my Aunt J. There were five siblings in that generation. My grandma, Aunt R and Uncle J were beer drinkers, my Aunt L drank water, but Aunt J drank Scotch. Aunt J was pretty feisty. Reports from Indiana tell me she was flicking people the bird right up to the very end. She was a stalwart Republican and we butted heads constantly over politics. Not a birthday card or Christmas card went by without us scribbling a political jab to the other. For example, during the '04 Election I sent Aunt J this scandalous shot of herself:
This really pushed her buttons and she was on the phone immediately giving me an earful.
I regret that I couldn't get to Indiana for her funeral today. But I want folks to know that in lieu of flowers I sent a contribution in her memory to the Republican National Committee. I wouldn't have done that for anyone else. But I just know that this evening she's strolling the golden sands of some heavenly seashore hand-in-hand with Ronald Reagan-- and that makes me feel good.
ITEM!
Speaking of politics, David "Biafra" Shuster was back on the air tonight after MSNBC suspended him for his role in Pimp-gate. Of course, Bill "Freaky Falafel" O'Reilly never left the air after his lynching comments about Michelle Obama. I think this perfectly demonstrates the problems that come with subjectively sanctioning folks for the content of their speech. Note that both the Shuster and O'Reilly comments were metaphorical. I've already discussed my take on "pimping" in my previous post, let me throw in a word about "lynching."
If you look up the word "lynch" in the dictionary chances are it'll define the word in terms of vigilante justice/punishment without due process, usually referring to hanging and often by a mob. The definition is race-neutral. People use the term frequently without intentionally implying race. Problems arise though when listeners unintentionally infer race. Of course when the speaker is white and the subject is black sparks can fly. O'Reilly's comment was careless and insensitive, but we can't just assume he intended to use the word fully loaded with racial implication. We have to be reasonable. Speakers should try to be sensitive. But before blowing a gasket, listeners must consider the context and tone of a statement and ensure that they're not reading more into it than what the speaker intends. Moreover, the ultimate sin in my book is when people intentionally infer the worst from a clearly benign statement in order to smear the speaker or gain sympathy for themself. Such tactics are an affront to reason and folks who utilize them ought to be lynched.
After months of fretting over which of the Democratic candidates to vote for, I finally made up my mind.
Or better stated, Hillary made up my mind for me.
By now you've probably heard of Pimp-gate. MSNBC's David Shuster commented the other night that Clinton was pimping Chelsea out by having her place phone calls to superdelegates in search of their support. Clinton found the term "pimping" degrading and threatened not to participate in any more MSNBC sponsored debates. Shuster was suspended but allowed to apologize on air. That wasn't enough though for Hillary. She wrote the president of NBC News stating, in part, "no temporary suspension or half hearted apology is sufficient."
Talk about overkill. With Hillary trailing among youth, why on earth would she go into histrionics over such a popular phrase in their vernacular? This whole episode wreaks of Tipper Gore. Who would have thought David Shuster would become the Jello Biafra of the 21st century?!
Hillary should have been thrilled with Shuster's remark. A pimp is a symbol of authority. And it's tough work! Anyone who's anyone knows that pimp'n ain't easy. The office of the President of the United States of America is best served by a person who commands like a pimp. But Hillary obviously wants nothing to do with it. If you're not a pimp, then, like the great post-modern lyricist Ludacris so succinctly penned, "You'Z a Ho."
So, I guess my decision is made, even if by default...
We here at The Bawdy Cloister are supporting Barack Obama for President.
Recent Comments