Texoblogosphere: week of June 3rd

The thoughts and prayers of the Texas Progressive Alliance are with the families and friends of the Houston Fire Department as we bring you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff discusses why the special session won’t wrap up as quickly as first thought.

We said goodbye to Michele Bachmann and Susan Combs on the same day last week. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs tried hard to hold back the tears (of laughter), but ultimately submitted to the overwhelming schadenfreude in anticipation of a few Texans who might next wear the crown.

Dos Centavos provides a response to HB 5 by a statewide coalition of Latino groups who have much to say about the education assessment bill.

Texas’ plan to finance roads is privatized gains and socialized loses. WCNews at Eye on Williamson the poor performance of corporate toll roads in Texas, But you can drive 85 mph on it.

And here are some posts of interest from other Texas bloggers.

Colin Strother joins the blogging world with a comparison of Battleground Texas today to the Assorted Republicans of Texas 30 years ago.

Concerned Citizens offers its own take on how BGT is perceived by its boosters and detractors.

Texpatriate wonders what the heck is going on in Galveston.

Texas Vox asks how ExxonMobil will adapt to the climate change it is helping to create.

Mean Green Cougar Red wants to know how safe our bridges are.

Lone Star Ma is upset about the politically-motivated death of CSCOPE.

Beyond Bones celebrates the sequencing of the coelecanth genome.

Music Musings- Vetrate di Chiesa by Ottorino Respighi

I wanted to start something new for the blog… A discussion and promotion of music that I enjoy. And it doesn’t always have to have a direct political connection.  

But the first in the series kinda does? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Upon hearing the news that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has picked State AG Jeffrey Chiesa to be the Interim United States Senator, one of my favorite musical works flooded the old noggin. BTW congratulations Garden Staters, you’ve got a Republican in the Senate… at least for a brief period. 
Vetrate di Chiesa (Church Windows) is an orchestral suite by Italian Composer Ottorino Respighi. He’s perhaps best known for his other orchestral work, the Pines of Rome. But this piece from 1926 is every bit at as exciting as his other works, or anything else in the era of Neo-Classicism. In fact, many would separate his work aside from the Neo-Classicist composers (Stravinsky, Satie, Hindemith) because of his careful study of older composers like Vivaldi and Marcello. It’s an on-going debate among Musicologists.

The second movement, Saint Michael the Archangel, is a particular favorite with its huge wind and string flourishes over a relentless brass phalanx. The sense of visual imagery created (you literally see the stirring of a thunder storm from the sounds) remind us just how masterful Repsighi’s orchestration abilities were. And this piece was in fact orchestrated, as it was originally based off of a piano etude he had composed years before in 1919. 

One more interesting fact… though Respighi himself was born in 1879 and died in 1936, his wife Elsa lived until 1996, reaching the tender age of 102. She was a tireless champion of the composer’s work.

Well anyway, check it out, and let me know what you think in the comments!!

The Drug War: Another Excuse For Racial Profiling

As an African-American male that grew up in the Deep South, I was taught at an early age to steer clear of the police. I never recall my family members happily greeting officers at a coffee shop, or stopping to ask them for directions. If you asked most people in my community what the first word they thought of when you say “cop”, they would probably respond with “dangerous”. In my small-town, most of the police were white men, and unfortunately, almost everyone I know has had a negative experience with them.

That everyone includes me. The first time it happened, I was 17, working at Sonic restaurant on a late Saturday night. It was about 1 am, past curfew for teenagers in our town, but there was still a group of kids that were just hanging around at the drive-in stalls. By now the only two people in the store was myself and Wes, the manager. As I got ready to clock out, Wes went outside to tell the kids to go home. I opened the door at the back of the restaurant, walked out and headed for my car. Then suddenly I heard the blare of a police siren, and a cop car pulled right in front of me.

“Excuse me young man… do you know what time it is?”

–“Yes sir, which is why I’m headed home right now”

“Well what are you doing out this time of night?” (He asks this after seeing me leave the store, in work clothes and wreaking of fryer grease)

–“Sir I’m just leaving work. But there’s several teenagers at the front of the store that are loitering.”

“Are you trying to be smart with me?”

And then my manager comes out…

—“Hello officer is there anything I can help you with? This young man has just worked a very long six-hour shift, and he needs to get home and get some rest. If you’re looking for some kids to discourage, they’re right there at the front of the store.”

“Well I’ll leave you to get back over to the Hill then. But you better go straight home.” (the Hill is where all the black people lived in our town, and yes at this time it really was ALL of them).

And that was my very first experience with Racial Profiling. Sadly, it’s not been my last. Even since moving to Houston, I have been wrongfully stopped by an HPD policeman, handcuffed and detained in a vehicle while my car was searched for drugs, only to be let go when the officers didn’t find anything. Out of pure fear, I simply drove away, wrists still scarred from the tight handcuffs. I didn’t have the good sense to file a report of the incident at the time. But knowing how often this situation happens to others, I really wish I had filed that report.

Which is why I am sharing this in the blog… to put yet another face to the statistics. For all of the hard-working police that are out there risking their lives to keep us safe, there are still too many that take advantage of citizens when they see an opportunity to do so. And even in 2013, African-Americans are still some of the most vulnerable. According to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union and independently reviewed by the New York Times, African-Americans are nearly four times more likely to get arrested for marijuana possession than whites, whether they actually have any drugs or not. This is despite the fact that reported usage of marijuana is virtually even among blacks and whites. The reason that the arrests are so much higher for black citizens? Because those citizens are targeted by the police, even when they’ve done nothing wrong. You can look at the reports, or you can learn from personal experience, but racial profiling continues to be a sad fact of life in the United States.

Racial profiling has a long and well-documented history. In Houston, the Chad Holley case is a recent example, where a teenager was savagely beaten by a gang of rabid HPD officers. It’s important to note that none of these officers currently work for the Houston Police Department, and each of them have either been put to trial or currently on trial for the case. But from the brutality in this tape, it’s a shame that they were hired in the first place.

Our nation’s misguided drug laws only add fuel to the fire of racial profiling. It gives those “bad apples” in law enforcement a powerful tool to harass citizens that THEY assume to be suspicious. And more often than not, suspicion turns out to be black and brown. As a result, we continue to misuse our community resources on nonviolent offenders, while the true, dangerous criminals roam the streets. But if someone is wrongfully arrested, and put in jail, that creates an arrest record. The once nonviolent offender is now marked for life, and set up for failure by being regulated to limited educational and economic advancement. It’s a vicious cycle that promotes discrimination, and that’s why it has to stop. Hopefully our nation will learn from states like Washington and Colorado that decriminalizing drug possession helps to save lives, discourage racial profiling, and save money for their taxpayers.

Free Press Equality Fest: Macklemore and Annise Parker

Perhaps Texas progressives and supporters LGBT equality are approaching our goals from the wrong angle. Maybe what we need is a little less pounding pavement and a little more poppin’ tags.

Take the spectacular events at this weekend’s Free Press Summer Fest in Houston. The two day event (which has been sold out for weeks) hosted some mega music acts, and even landed Macklemore and Ryan Lewis as their second single is atop the Billboard charts. The crowd at the rap duo’s performance was massive, and they were treated to some big surprises. Right before the the hit song Same Love (which promotes marriage equality), Macklemore introduced Houston Mayor Annise Parker to a roaring crowd. Here’s how the Houston Chronicle writer and pop music expert Joey Guerra observed the situation…

Between the party-starting and fur flinging, Macklemore acknowledged Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who greeted him upon arrival at the festival. It was a fitting intro for “Same Love,” the duo’s powerful, poignant ode to the LGBT community.

“She is an amazing person. And one of the coolest things is that she is the first lesbian mayor in the United States of America,” he said.

“I believe in equality. I believe in tolerance. And I believe in change. And I believe that Houston is at the forefront of one of the biggest civil rights movements of our generation.”

Easy to see how that could be viewed as an “endorsement” of sorts. But the rap artist really sums up the main point here… LGBT equality is indeed THE Civil Rights movement of our time. And, at least for Millennials, it’s also a foregone conclusion, crossing virtually all party lines and ideologies. The longer the Republican Party has to hold on to ideas of bigotry and LGBT discrimination, the more young adult voters they are going to lose.

So here is the key for Progressives… how do we get crowds like this one from the theater box to the ballot box? If politicians like Annise Parker ever want to win statewide in Texas, it’s going to take engagement like what we saw from that crowd. But with endorses as cool as Macklemore, I suspect we’ve got a real shot.

Houston’s Strong Economy: Why It’s more than just Hype

Houston seems to be a favorite subject of national media these days. But perhaps it’s good hear about the Houston economy from those that are actually living it day to day. Here are six reasons I think Houston’s economy is working so well…

1) Houston didn’t have much of a housing boom last decade, so it’s less likely that we’d have a housing bust in the near future.

2) Health care jobs are growing. We’re still on the leading edge of Baby Boomer retirements, so it’s reasonable to think that any city that has a strong health care center is only going to see more growth in coming years. Plus, with the ACA and a massive Medicaid expansion (even without Texas at this point) the need for doctors, nurses and other health workers is stronger than ever. Makes sense that ever since I’ve moved here, the Medical Center has always been dotted with cranes.

3) Port of Houston shipping strength. As home to one of the nation’s largest ports, and one of the largest freight rail hubs, Houston is well-positioned to take advantage of our nation’s growing shipping industry. And grow it shall… once completed in 2015, the widening of the Panama Canal is expected to double it’s traffic capacity. The Port of Houston has spent millions to get ready for it, so all signs point to a busier shipping industry in the Bayou City.

4) Energy diversification. Sure… having oil and energy-related jobs be nearly half of your economy may not sound “diverse” but it’s a heck of a lot better off than the mid-1980s, when oil made up 87 percent of the Houston economy. Plus the jobs themselves are different now. Far fewer of the strictly industrial labor sector, and more people that are engineers and specialists, the future of the energy industry.

5) Good governance. Our current city government has been a good steward of public money, and as a result we are investing in our transit system, schools, parks, bike trails and infrastructure at an impressive rate. With programs like Hire Houston First, these investments are creating jobs for local companies. Under Mayor Annise Parker’s leadership, things are getting done at City Hall.

6) Immigration reform? As Texas’ second largest metropolitan area, Houston has a particularly special interest in our nation’s immigration system. If done well (let’s be honest… if done AT ALL), the recognition of the US’ undocumented population is going to bring over 11 million people into legal, working status. And that’s going to create some serious jobs. Houston is home to a large population of immigrants legal and otherwise, so we stand at the forefront of CIR’s effects.

I’m cautious to use terms like “economic boom” because anything can happen. But it’s fair to say that Houston is on a strong economic path for the next few years. So don’t believe the hype… instead, just look at the facts.