After the Candidates leave, what will be left for Texas Democrats?

by: blackandblue

Sat Mar 01, 2008 at 10:19 PM CST

With both the Clinton and Obama camps SCREAMING foul play before Election Day and our Precinct Conventions, we will most definitely be a divided party when they leave. There will be hurt feelings and feelings of getting screwed during the conventions. Unfortunately, we will be divided by race, gender and age and it all could have been avoided. How?

DFT - How to win your Precinct Convention for Barack Obama

by: blackandblue

Fri Feb 22, 2008 at 10:43 PM CST

There are some fundamental statements in this document that totally WRONG.  I hope no one shows up with this document in hand and expects to take over a precinct convention as this "handy" piece of paper implies.  

The Murder of David Morales

by: blackandblue

Thu Jun 21, 2007 at 08:58 PM CDT

I rely on BOR for insight into the things that matter.  I often turn to this resource because it offers  diverse views on so many of the issues that Texas should care about. I have checked for 2 days now and I don't see a peep about the mob beating of two men which resulted in the death of one. I find that odd.  

I know the primary coverage of BOR is politics, but this was such a tragic incident that, while horrible, has the potential of sparking some debate.  I mean community leaders came out right away to try to difuse any backlash that may occur because the suspected assailants are Black and the assailed are Hispanic.  Why would they do that if there was not already some tention between the two communities?  And more importantly, why don't we want to talk about it?   

It's the little things

by: blackandblue

Thu Mar 01, 2007 at 10:20 PM CST

S.A.F.E?

by: blackandblue

Wed Jul 26, 2006 at 10:24 PM CDT

This Bill goes describes about how this new temporary worker program will work. (You can read the whole article and the Discussion Draft of the Bill at http://www.washingto...)

The Bill requires American companies to verify that the jobs they want to fill by using a “temporary worker” could not be filled by and American. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t companies supposed to do some sort of check now that they don’t do?)

The Bill has all these provisions and stages of second class citizenry. The temporary worker would have to apply for a work visa at “Ellis Island Centers” (isn’t that a nice term) in their home country. These centers would be privately owned and operated but licensed by the DHS in countries that are a part of NAFTA and CAFTA-DR.

HERE COMES THE HATE PART!

From the Discussion Draft provided to the Washington Post:

No Amnesty:

Undocumented residents currently in the U.S. must return to their country of origin in order to apply for participation in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program.

Undocumented residents currently in the U.S. will not received an automatic path to citizenship by virtue of participating in the Good Neighbor SAFE Visa Program. However, participation is the program will not preclude participants from returning to their country of origin at any time, surrendering their Good Neighbor SAFE Visa and applying for legal permanent residence under current law.

Basically Kay Bailey Hutchison is saying: All you people from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador… you don’t have to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here. Oh – it’s called self-deportation.

We might let you come back in the country if you are willing to work for low wages and be forever indebted to the company that brought you over here. Oh, you can leave at any time, but you have to use the existing immigration process to get back in the country.
Which means, you probably won’t be back.

This is wrong on so many levels. These are just a few:

1. It is racially motivated and targets only undocumented immigrants from the Americas.

2. It is an attempt to combine two immigration bills that were nothing but partisan politics to begin with.

3. It’s a stall tactic. (You know as well as I do that the Republicans are not going to vote on anything they can carry over into November. It is their attempt to hang on to every divisive non-issue they can.)

4. It does absolutely nothing to actually solve the non-issue of immigration.

Kay Bailey could have called her Bill “Stop the Invasion” and had just as much of an impact.

Texas, this is how your Senator represents you.

Now I ask you, is she being a Good Neighbor?

I think it’s time for her go. She has outlived her usefulness. I think she should self-deport from the U.S. Senate, but she won’t, so we have to vote her out.

Is There Something Missing?

by: blackandblue

Sun Jul 02, 2006 at 07:05 PM CDT

I have been to several events such as, fundraisers, precinct canvasses, social gatherings, Democratic Party meetings and the thing I notice most is the absence of people like me. There are a few of us sprinkled in here and there, but our numbers are not truly represented when it comes to active party members.

Now I know what you're thinking, but that's not what I'm about to say. I know these things are voluntary. I know the Party welcomes everyone and is actively looking for people to take part in the Party.

We as black people have to stand up and show up. Some of us complain that the Democratic party takes our votes for granted and that they are not doing enough for black people. But I say what are black people doing for themselves? We have to stand up and show up.

We can't go through life expecting people to give us anything. I have a term for this - it's called the "Give a Damn Factor". We have to actually care about what happens in our community.

I am not sure how to combat this extreme apathy for civic participation. My generation does not know what it was like not to have the basic rights we have today. We have not had a physical fight like the one our parents had. I think because we don't have that type of connection with the importance of civic participation, we don't feel it's necessary for us to participate at all. This is oh so wrong!!!

I recently spoke to a black man that was at least 32 years old and had never registered to vote. What! 32 and not registered to vote. I asked why he had never voted and basically his answer was, because there was nothing in it for him. Why should he vote when there was no one out there that spoke for him? Why should he vote, because the people that claim to speak for him, don't. At that initial meeting, I had no answer for him. All I could think was, he is right.

He is right? No, he's not right. The reason he needs to vote is because the elected officials of the City of Dallas, Dallas County, Dallas Independent School District, State and Federal governments work for us. Whether they realize it or not. If they are not doing all in their power to empower the community, and better the lives of the people they serve, then we need to get rid of them. That's the bottom line.

I still don't know how to combat the epidemic voter apathy that faces our community, but I think it starts with educating ourselves and our children. We need to teach our children about how government works. We need to teach them how important it is know what going on around them. We need to teach them to care about more than themselves. We need to teach them how government affects them in just about every way they can imagine and we need to teach them where to go to get something done. "If you are going to play the game, you have to know the rules" Barbara Jordan. First we have to tell them about the game, then teach them the rules and then make them play. Otherwise, we don't stand a chance.

If you don't participate in the process, you have absolutely no right to complain about the current conditions in which we live. That's the bottom line. Black folks in Dallas are going to look up in about "15" minutes and nobody is going to care what we have to say.

We have to stand up and show up!

If you want to know what's really going on in the Southern Sector of Dallas, read

http://dallasprogress.blogspot.com/