July 04, 2005

Happy 229th Birthday

The Fourth of July is often a day of celebration – of parties and fireworks. It's a day to honor the birth of a nation 229 years ago, when with a flourish of his quill, John Hancock became the first member to sign the Declaration of Independence, declaring that King George III would have no need of his spectacles to read his signature.

Understandably, the Fourth is a patriotic day, a day to celebrate the history of a proud nation. However, the real reason for the celebration is often lost among the abundant national symbols and the always fascinating firework displays.

As in 1776 our nation is battling a foreign entity with the objective of upholding personal freedoms and spreading liberty to the oppressed. Unlike then, the foreign power is not a nation, and in fact had not even threatened the United States, nor did the US observe international law when it invaded the country.

The meaning of the word freedom seems to have been altered somewhat. Today, our government seems all too sure of exactly what 'freedom' means, and what constitutes freedom. Even while our nation is fighting abroad, freedoms are diminishing at home.

The government still has not renewed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the government wishes to expand certain provisions of the intrusive Patriot Act, and the federal government and the State of Texas wish to define what is permissible when it comes to traditionally private matters.

Freedom should provide one to enjoy all the privileges of citizenship, not to exclude certain groups. The people must have the ability to exercise their choice and free will, and no legislature should whittle away such rights by discriminatory acts. Freedom is liberty from "unjust or undue government control; the right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one’s choosing."

Some seek to define others as unpatriotic if they do not say positive things about the United States or its international role. Some use our national flag as a wedge, a tool to gain a political advantage. While hundreds of thousands of Americans are serving abroad, as our President says to defend our borders, we must serve as a counterbalance to government when it oversteps its bounds. We must be careful when our national symbols are valued more highly than the freedoms they represent.

Freedom and our liberties are what we make of them. Freedom is not something that only one person can know for certain. It's something that comes about as a collective whole. When the rights of all are upheld and respected, then we are free.

After the parties are over, and all the fireworks have been set off, let's remember those that fought for the birth of our nation, the true freedom fighters. I wonder how the Declaration of Independence might read, if it was written today. How different might the rights laid out by the Founding Fathers sound?

Read the Declaration of Independence in the Houston Chronicle.

Here's an article in the Austin-American Statesman about "Fighting for 'we the people.'"

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May 26, 2005

Senfronia Thompson is a Democrat to Watch

In an effort to not lose sight of the good things that Democrats can do, here is the speech that State Representative Senfronia Thompson of District 141 in Houston gave before the Texas House on HJR 6, the Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment.

All too often the public focuses only on the bad that comes from the Legislature. The Lege certainly makes it easy to do. However, it results in a kind of perverse incentive because legislators receive more attention when they do something wrong than when they do something right. Plus, the ones that really are fighting for us, don't get the credit they deserve.

Here's what Molly Ivins had to say about Senfronia Thompson's speech that she devoted her entire column to today:

AUSTIN -- Here in the National Laboratory for Bad Government, it's Duck and Cover time -- the Legislature is in session. The Can't-Shake-Your-Booty bill passed the House, saving us all from the scourge of sexy cheerleaders. But nothing else is getting done. The state is being run by people who do not know how to govern. Keep in mind that based on past form, whatever lunacy is going on in Texas will eventually sweep the country.

Rarely are the words of one state legislator worth national attention, but when Senfronia Thompson, a black representative from Houston, stalks to the back mike with a certain "get-out-of-my-way" look in her eye, it's, Katie, bar the door. Here is Thompson speaking against the Legislature's recent folly of putting a superfluous anti-gay marriage measure into the state constitution:

Praise should be given where praise is due. In this case, Senfronia Thompson delivered a first rate speech on the perils of HJR 6.

I have been a member of this august body for three decades, and today is one of the all-time low points. We are going in the wrong direction, in the direction of hate and fear and discrimination.

Members, we all know what this is about; this is the politics of divisiveness at its worst, a wedge issue that is meant to divide.

Members, this issue is a distraction from the real things we need to be working on. At the end of this session, this Legislature, this Leadership will not be able to deliver the people of Texas, fundamental and fair answers to the pressing issues of our day.

Let's look at what this amendment does not do: It does not give one Texas citizen meaningful tax relief. It does not reform or fully fund our education system. It does not restore one child to CHIP who was cut from health insurance last session. It does not put one dime into raising Texas' Third World access to health care. It does not do one thing to care for or protect one elderly person or one child in this state. In fact, it does not even do anything to protect one marriage.

Members, this bill is about hate and fear and discrimination. I know something about hate and fear and discrimination. When I was a small girl, white folks used to talk about "protecting the institution of marriage" as well. What they meant was if people of my color tried to marry people of Mr. Chisum's color, you'd often find the people of my color hanging from a tree. That's what the white folks did back then to "protect marriage." Fifty years ago, white folks thought inter-racial marriages were a "threat to the institution of marriage."

Members, I'm a Christian and a proud Christian. I read the good book, and do my best to live by it. I have never read the verse where it says, "gay people can't marry." I have never read the verse where it says, "though shalt discriminate against those not like me." I have never read the verse where it says, "let's base our public policy on hate and fear and discrimination." Christianity to me is love and hope and faith and forgiveness-not hate and discrimination.

I have served in this body a lot of years-and I have seen a lot of promises broken. I should be up here demanding my 40 acres and a mule because that's another promise you broke. You used a wealthy white minister cloaked in the cloth to ease the stench of that form of discrimination. So, now that blacks and women can vote, and now
that blacks and women have equal rights-you turn your hatred to homosexuals- and you still use your misguided reading of the Bible to justify your hatred.

You want to pass this ridiculous amendment so you can go home and brag. Brag about what? Declare that you saved the people of Texas from what? Persons of the same sex cannot get married in this State now. Texas does not now recognize same-sex marriages, civil unions, religious unions, domestic partnerships, contractual arrangements or Christian blessings entered into in this State -- or anywhere else on this planet Earth.

If you want to make your hateful political statements then that is one thing -- the Chisum amendment does real harm. It repeals the contracts that many single people have paid thousands of dollars to purchase to obtain medical powers of attorney, powers of attorney, hospital visitation, joint ownership and support agreements.

You have lost your way -- this is obscene. Today, you are playing to the lowest common denominator -- you are putting aside the real issues of substance that we need to address so that you can instead play on the public's fears and prejudices to deceive and manipulate voters into thinking that we have done something important.

I realize that gay rights are not the same as civil rights, but I can guarantee you we are going in the wrong direction. I can not hide my skin color. In fact, in most of the South, people as pink as Rep. Wayne Smith were still Black by law if they had a great grandparent who was African. I was unable to attend an integrated and equally funded school until I got my Master of Laws degree. There were separate and unequal facilities for nearly everything.

I got second-hand textbooks even worse than the kind you're trying to pass off on every public school student next year. I had to ride to school on the back of the bus. I had to quench my thirst from filthy coloreds-only drinking fountains. I had to enter restaurants from the kitchen door. I was banned from entering most public accommodations, even from serving on a jury. I had to live with the fear that getting too uppity could get you killed -- or worse. I know what third-class citizenship feels like.

In my first term, one of my colleagues walked up and down this aisle muttering about how Nigras should be back in the field picking cotton instead of picking out committees.

So, I have to wonder about Rep. Chisum's 3/5 of a person amendment. Some of you folks hid behind your Bible then,too, to justify your cultural prejudices, your denial of liberty, and your gunpoint robbery of human dignity.

We have worked hard at putting our prejudices against homosexuals in law. We have denied them basic job protections. We have denied them and their children freedom from bullying and harassment at school. We have tried to criminalize their very existence. But, we have also absolved them of all family duties and responsibilities: to care for and support their spouses and children, to count their family's assets in determining public assistance, to obtain health insurance for dependents, to make end-of-life or necessary medical decisions for their life partners -- sometimes even to visit in the hospital, even to defend our own country. And then, we can stand on our two hind legs and proclaim, "See, I told you homosexual families are unstable."

And nearly every one of you on this Floor has a homosexual in their extended families. Some of you have shunned and isolated these family members. Some of you, even some of the joint coauthors, have embraced them within your own family for the essence of Christianity is love. Yet,you are now poised to constitutionalize discrimination against a particular class of people.

I thought we would be debating real issues:education, health care for kids, teacher's health insurance, health care for the elderly, protecting survivors of sexual assault, protecting the pensions of seniors in nursing homes. I thought we would be debating economic development, property tax relief, protecting seniors pensions and stem cell research, to save lives of Texans who are waiting for a more abundant life. Instead we are wasting this body's time with this political stunt that is nothing more than constitutionalizing discrimination.

The prejudices exhibited by members of this body disgust me. Last week, Republicans used a political wedge issue to pull kids-sweet little vulnerable kids -- out of the homes of loving parents and put them back in a state orphanage just because those parents are gay. That's disgusting. Today, we are telling homosexuals that just like people of my ilk, when I was a small child; they too are second class citizens. I have listened to all the arguments. I have listened to all of the crap. Mr. Chisum, is a person who I consider my good friend and revere. But, I want you to know that this amendment is blowing smoke to fuel the hell-fire flames of bigotry. You are trying to protect your constituents from danger. This amendment is a CYB amendment for you to go home and talk about.

Why not contact Senfronia Thompson and let her know that she did her best to uphold our Democratic values, and to keep up the good work.

Capitol Office
Room CAP 3S.06
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768

(512) 463-0720
(512) 463-6306 Fax

District Office
10527 Homestead Road
Houston, TX 77016
(713) 633-3390

Or e-mail Representative Thompson

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April 22, 2005

One of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy

That is how the American Heritage Magazine (October 1993) referred to the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Today marks the 35th Earth Day since its inception. Rather than write about the inadequacies of the current administration's environmental record and bad news about the environment, about which we all have all heard, I thought I would concentrate on the less well-known founder of Earth Day, former Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson.

The roots of Earth Day began in 1962. Nelson was troubled by the state of our environment and the fact that it was a "non-issue" in politics. In November 1962 in order to bring attention to the environment, he met with President Kennedy. He managed to persuade the President to embark on a five-day, eleven-state national conservation tour in September 1963. While the trip did not prove to be entirely successful in placing the environment on the political agenda, it was the beginning. Nelson continued to promote discussion on environmental issues around the country, but he found the politicians were disinterested in the environment even though the people were concerned.

After President Kennedy's tour, I still hoped for some idea that would thrust the environment into the political mainstream. Six years would pass before the idea that became Earth Day occurred to me while on a conservation speaking tour out West in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called "teach-ins," had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me - why not organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment?

He believed by focusing on the public’s environmental concerns and introducing the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, the result would be a demonstration that would force the environment onto the political agenda.

At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance. For the next four months, two members of my Senate staff, Linda Billings and John Heritage, managed Earth Day affairs out of my Senate office.

Five months before Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the astonishing proliferation of environmental events:

"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...."

What is perhaps most notable is:

Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.

Some of Nelson’s achievements include:
Preserving the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail
Mandate fuel efficiency standards in automobiles
Control of strip mining
Banning the use of DDT
Banning the use of 245T (agent orange)
Created the St. Croix Wild and Scenic Riverway and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Co-sponsored the National Environmental Education Act

In addition, Nelson co-sponsored the National Environmental Education Act and composed the legislation establishing the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission and Operation Mainstream/Green Thumb that employs the elderly in conservation projects.

Beginning with his rise to the Counsellorship of The Wilderness Society, he spent 14 years promoting the protection of our national forests and parks, and other public lands. More recently, he has focused US population issues and sustainability and still remains proactive in Earth Day activities, serving as Chairman of Earth Day XXV in 1995. Nelson also founded the Earth Day Network’s Earth Day 2000 Clean Energy Now! campaign. Nelson lives in Kensington, Maryland with his wife.

Senator Nelson is an excellent example of the idealism and perseverance necessary to the environmental movement, and how much can be achieved through a grass roots movement. The American Heritage Magazine (October 1993) called April 22, 1970, "one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy..."

Read Nelson’s complete thoughts on the purpose of Earth Day and how it began and about Nelson at EarthDay Network.

Read democracyforcalifornia.com's post on Earth Day Every Day.

Take a short quiz about your ecological footprint on the environment and learn about ways to get involved at http://www.earthday.net/default.aspx

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April 13, 2005

Congrats to John C.

Our very own John Cobarruvias was recognized by KHOU Channel 11 news for his Good Works with the Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings group and with helping homeowners save their homes.

Read the story and watch the video by clicking on this link.

We are very lucky to have John on our side!

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March 30, 2005

“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed.”

cesar_chavez.jpg

On March 31, Texas will celebrate the birth of cultural icon, labor, civil and human rights leader Cesar Estrada Chavez. To commemorate Chavez, I have borrowed some lines from the United Farm Workers’ biography of the late leader.

The story of Cesar Estrada Chavez begins near Yuma, Arizona. Cesar was born on March 31, 1927. He was named after his grandfather, Cesario. Regrettably, the story of Cesar Estrada Chavez also ends near Yuma, Arizona. He passed away on April 23, 1993, in San Luis, a small village near Yuma, Arizona.

He learned about justice or rather injustice early in his life. Cesar grew up in Arizona; the small adobe home, where Cesar was born was swindled from them by dishonest Anglos. Cesar's father agreed to clear eighty acres of land and in exchange he would receive the deed to forty acres of land that adjoined the home. The agreement was broken and the land sold to a man named Justus Jackson. Cesar's dad went to a lawyer who advised him to borrow money and buy the land. Later when Cesar's father could not pay the interest on the loan the lawyer bought back the land and sold it to the original owner. Cesar learned a lesson about injustice that he would never forget. Later, he would say, “The love for justice that is in us is not only the best part of our being but it is also the most true to our nature.”

In 1962 Cesar founded the National Farm Workers Association, later to become the United Farm Workers--the UFW. He was joined by Dolores Huerta and the union was born. By 1970 the UFW got grape growers to accept union contracts and had effectively organized most of that industry, at one point in time claiming 50,000 dues paying members. The reason was Cesar Chavez's tireless leadership and nonviolent tactics that included the Delano grape strike, his fasts that focused national attention on farm workers problems, and the 340-mile march from Delano to Sacramento in 1966. The marchers wanted the state government to pass laws which would permit farm workers to organize into a union and allow collective bargaining agreements. Cesar made people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and safer working conditions. He succeeded through nonviolent tactics (boycotts, pickets, and strikes). Cesar Chavez and the union sought recognition of the importance and dignity of all farm workers.

Cesar was willing to sacrifice his own life so that the union would continue and that violence was not used. Cesar fasted many times. In 1968 Cesar went on a water only, 25 day fast. He repeated the fast in 1972 for 24 days, and again in 1988, this time for 36 days. What motivated him to do this? He said, Farm workers everywhere are angry and worried that we cannot win without violence. We have proved it before through persistence, hard work, faith and willingness to sacrifice. We can win and keep our own selfrespect and build a great union that will secure the spirit of all people if we do it through a rededication and recommitment to the struggle for justice through nonviolence.

Cesar Chavez completed his 36-day Fast for Life on August 21, 1988. The Reverend Jesse Jackson took up where Cesar left off, fasting on water for three days before passing on the fast to celebrities and leaders. The fast was passed to Martin Sheen, actor; the Reverend J. Lowery, President SCLC; Edward Olmos, actor; Emilio Estevez, actor; Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy, Peter Chacon, legislator, Julie Carmen, actress; Danny Glover, actor; Carly Simon, singer; and Whoopi Goldberg, actress.

Cesar Estrada Chavez died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993 near Yuma, Arizona, a short distance from the small family farm in the Gila River Valley where he was born more than 66 years before. The founder and president of the United Farm Workers of America, AFLCIO was in Yuma helping UFW attorneys defend the union against a lawsuit brought by Bruce Church Inc., a giant Salinas, Calif.based lettuce and vegetable producer. Church demanded that the farm workers pay millions of dollars in damages resulting from a UFW boycott of its lettuce during the 1980's. Rather than bring the legal action in a state where the boycott actually took place, such as California or New York, Church "shopped around" for a friendly court in conservative, agribusiness dominated Arizona where there had been no boycott activity.

On April 29, 1993, Cesar Estrada Chavez was honored in death by those he led in life. More than 50,000 mourners came to honor the charismatic labor leader at the site of his first public fast in 1968 and his last in 1988, the United Farm Workers Delano Field Office at "Forty Acres." It was the largest funeral of any labor leader in the history of the U.S. They came in caravans from Florida to California to pay respect to a man whose strength was in his simplicity.

Farm workers, family members, friends and union staff took turns standing vigil over the plain pine coffin which held the body of Cesar Chavez. Among the honor guard were many celebrities who had supported Chavez throughout his years of struggle to better the lot of farmworkers throughout America.

Many of the mourners had marched side by side with Chavez during his tumultuous years in the vineyards and farms of America. For the last time, they came to march by the side of the man who had taught them to stand up for their rights, through nonviolent protest and collective bargaining.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahoney, who celebrated the funeral mass, called Chavez "a special prophet for the worlds' farm workers." Pall bearers, including crews of these workers, Chavez children and grandchildren, then carried their fallen leader, resting at last, from the Memorial Park to Forty Acres.

The death of Chavez marked an era of dramatic changes in American agriculture. His contributions would be eroded, and others would have to shoulder the burden of his work. But, Cesar Chavez, who insisted that those who labor in the earth were entitled to share fairly in the rewards of their toil, would never be forgotten.

As Luis Valdez said, "Cesar, we have come to plant your heart like a seed . . . the farm workers shall harvest in the seed of your memory."

VIVA LA CAUSA!

VIVA LA UNION!

VIVA LA HUELGA!

y VIVA CESAR CHAVEZ!


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