A Gallup.com poll released today shows that there are only 5 states left with a statistically significant Republican majority. Texas is not among them. In fact, they said:
In contrast, only five states had solid or leaning Republican orientations in 2008, with Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Alaska in the former group, and Nebraska in the latter.
The most balanced political states in 2008 were Texas (+2 Democratic), South Dakota (+1), Mississippi (+1), North Dakota (+1), South Carolina (even), Arizona (even), Alabama (+1 Republican), and Kansas (+2 Republican).
I can't read this with the eye of a statistician, but did find it cool that they sampled the cell-phone-only crowd.
How exciting for Texas! Now we get these folks out to vote.
On January 9, Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) filled Senate Bill 440 that would strip the Texas State Board of Education of all authority except that outlined in the state constitution. The constitution gives the SBOE control over the Permanent School Fund only. Other duties, such as the board's ability to set curriculum standards and adopt textbooks, would revert to the control of the Texas Education Agency.
Theoretically, this would reduce the politicization of the SBOE. Populated by ideologues and extremists such as chairman Don McLeroy, Cynthia Dunbar from District 10, Ken Mercer from District 5, and David Bradley from District 7, the SBOE has become a battlefield for the culture wars rather than a governing body.
For years, the SBOE hasn't been able to get anything done besides fighting about creationism, changing the dates of the Ice Age, removing references to safe sex in textbooks, griping about "overly disparaging" slavery, and counting the number of brown faces in social studies textbooks. It basically just gives aspiring ultra right-wing politicians a stage for their political posturing. It's time to move on from the culture wars, or at least handle them in an arena that is not at taxpayer expense and on the backs of Texas students.
Ellis's bill looks like a move toward good government. Giving the TEA a shot at handling these matters more neutrally would be a step forward for all Texans - we can re-focus on educational excellence and preparing our students for college.
The consequences of this bill are potentially huge, but it hasn't picked up a lot of attention on press or blogs so far. Donna Howard's HB 420, which would make the SBOE races nonpartisan, has gotten some attention. Given all the hubbub about the SBOE meetings last week, it might be time to take a look at this bill and whether it has a chance. The political climate under the new Speaker, and the general trend of using unity, transparency, good government, and bipartisanship as buzzwords would seem to favor this type of legislation. I'd love to know if anyone else thinks it stands a chance.
This is way off topic, but I just looked out my office window at UT, and there is a plane flying around and around campus pulling a banner that says "HEY MACK QUIT WHINING U KNEW THE RULES".
ROFL. This is what we get for the 45-35 plane at the OU/OSU game.
Many of you are aware that the passage of CA's Propostion 8 on Nov. 4 ignited a firestorm of activism among members of the LGBTQ and straight allies. At this point, there is a lot of momentum toward increasing public visibility of the need for marriage equality and raising public awareness that this is a civil rights issue. To that end, JoinTheImpact.com organized nationwide protests at city halls a few weeks ago; we had 2,000-3,000 people attend here in Austin.
Now, Join The Impact is organizing a canned food drive that will specifically support faith-based food banks in cities nationwide. The goal of this is to demonstrate, in a meaningful, community-building way, that the LGBTQ community and supporters have a positive impact on our city - specifically to some folks who might still be a little skeptical.
I get really excited about initiatives that build bridges among different faith communities and other groups, so I was disappointed to see that no one had signed up to organize the Austin chapter of this effort. So... I signed up! However, we need tons of help.
- First of all, please check out the details on the national website.
- Then, join our Austin facebook page and invite anyone you think might be interested.
*** We especially need business/bars/etc. that can volunteer to put out a box for collection.
- We also need a location to store items collected until the donation day on 12/20, and someone with a truck who can help deliver on that day.
- Most of all at this stage, we need publicity! Blog, twitter, and email this to everyone you know. Once it gets off the ground, I'll be harping on all of you to donate cans - hopefully along with a small army of volunteers. :-)
(There was over 1,000 people at the rally today which was entirely grassroots driving. Great speakers, diverse, lots of energy and support. Really impressed. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
At 12:30 today there was a huge rally at City Hall in Austin in opposition to Prop 8, which was an amendment to California's constitution that prohibits same-sex marriages. The proposition passed on election day with 52.5% of California voters in support; many attribute its passage to out-of-state financial influence, including at least $14 million from members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons).
Protests were held nationwide at 1:30 EST today at city halls in hundreds of cities, including all across Texas. I'm a terrible estimator of crowd sizes, but I can comfortably say there were well over a thousand people decked out with signs and shirts in front of Austin's own City Hall this afternoon. This group was large and diverse: there were many members of the LGBT community and a lot of straight families and other supporters.
Unfortunately, there was very little local media coverage present. I saw KXAN arrive almost an hour after the event started, and heard that there were some folks from the local Fox affiliate there. A guy next to me was calling all the stations but not getting much response. Otherwise, I didn't see much - certainly not the big line of news trucks nearby that I expected (apologizes to anyone overlooked; this is simply an account of what one person observed). However, there were tons and tons of people snapping photos that will likely end up online soon, so perhaps it's a triumph of citizen journalism. Be on the lookout for these - including my own flickr photo stream.
The organizers lined up a great set of speakers for about an hour, including a lesbian couple who were married in California and now face the prospect of their marriage being nullified, a ten year old with lesbian parents, a gay man who was not protected under the law when his longtime partner was killed by a drunk driver, and many others. At one point, we were all led in a vow to fight to overturn Proposition 8 and to be "out and proud". After the conclusion of the program, the crowd was really fired up. Many people left at this point, but many others still at the City Hall Plaza began waving signs at passers-by, most of whom waved and honked in reply. At about 2:00, a spontaneous march began. Several hundred of us walked all the way to the Capitol, then on an improvised route around downtown on 5th and 6th streets, Congress Avenue, and other areas for about an hour. There was absolutely no MSM coverage of this portion of the event. We were shouting "Gay, straight, black, white, marriage is a civil right!" and "What do we want? Equal rights! When do we want it? Now!" all over downtown - drawing cheers, waves, and honks from motorists. Throughout the entire event, I did not see a single counter-protester or endure a harassing comment. At most, there was an occasional disgruntled-looking driver.
Austinites should be proud that the local protest at our City Hall drew such a massive response from queers and straights alike who support equal rights for all and have pledged to fight Proposition 8.
(This is Saturday at City Hall in Austin at 12:30. More info here. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
There are events going on nationwide tomorrow in protest of California's passage of Proposition 8, an amendment to the CA state constitution that bans same-sex marriages.
In Austin, there will be a major gathering in front of City Hall at 12:30. The turnout is expected to be large - as of 4:16 pm on Friday, 792 people are already "confirmed guests" on the Houston/Austin facebook page alone! My workplace seems to be abuzz about it. Everyone who supports this issue is encouraged to turn out, bring friends, and make signs in support of marriage equality.
Check out the Texas page here. It includes events listed in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, the Valley, Denton, and Lubbock.
There have been protests going on all over California since the election, but this is the first time that we in Texas have had an opportunity to participate, to my knowledge. How exciting!
