San Antonio Young Democrats

Thursday, May 11, 2006

The New BCDP Website is LIVE!


Breaking news, you heard it here first - from the source:

There is a new look to the Bexar County Democratic Party website, still located at www.bexardemocrats.org.

There are still a few items under construction, but on the whole, this is a good-looking website. (Just my biased opinion.) There are pages for our candidates and elected officials at the federal, state and county level. My guess is that City and other local authorities will be forthcoming.

Also the calendar is nice-looking, but quite empty at this time. SAYD events have already been submitted for approval to Carla Vela (by way of Mary Garcia). For more requests, please email calendar@bexardemocrats.org

Please send any bugs, corrections, complements, and death threats to webmaster@bexardemocrats.org.

Republicans Just Don't Understand Economics, Do They?

Ok, here it is – the Republican Senate is passing a fat ass tax cut to the rich again. (Story: here, courtesy of the Washington Post.)

Poor-to-Middle class Americans will see about $20 (think: 0.1 % over their annual income), whereas the millionaires will get about $42,000 (think: 4.2 %) of their tax dollars back. They argue this up as being good for the economy, trickle down and all that nonsense. The argument here is that more money in the hands of Americans means a stimulus to the American economy.

To the Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, more money in the hands of Americans doesn’t mean a stimulus to the American economy, it means inflation. The Fed just raised the interest rate the other day to attempt to curtail inflation. (Thank you, CNN).

That somewhat dampens the economic stimulus argument, doesn’t it? But no matter, the Republicans don’t need an understanding of economics – they have ideology, after all.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Lamar is Smellin' the Coffee!!

We have it from BOR that Lamar Smith (U.S. Rep. - District 21) has found out that he can't take this race for granted.
In his words:
I wanted to bring you up-to-date on the campaign. I have a serious campaign this year. My Democratic opponent, who is campaigning full time, ran against me before and was well-funded, but the demographics of the 21st Congressional District have changed: there are 100,000 new constituents in Travis County and the district is less Republican. I need your support to ensure we have every available resource to conduct a strong campaign throughout the 21st District.

For the uninitiated: When a Republican long-time incumbent acknowledges their opponent in this fashion, it can usually be translated into English as meaning:
HELP, I'M IN TROUBLE - COME BAIL ME OUT!!!

So, this is good news for John Courage, who is running a really strong race this time around. The district is much different, after Tom DeLay gave several of Smith's core Republican stronghold counties to Henry Bonilla (District 23) - these would be Kendall, Kerr and Bandera counties. But that's not all that District 21 lost, and it gained a good left-leaning chunk of Travis County, complete with UT.

If you're looking for a candidate to support this time around, John Courage, is a good man to get behind.

Congress needs Courage.

Meeting summary

Here is a summary of the last meeting. Maria Luisa Alvarado our party’s candidate for Lt. Governor was our first guest speaker. She talked about her grassroots campaign and her plan to focus on education funding. We also had Vince and Mary Garcia who are on the steering committee of the Bexar County Democratic party. They spoke about the new leadership and new era of the county party. They also thanked the Young Democrats for stepping up and providing the first fundraising effort. This effort is a “letter” campaign that will be addressed to elected officials and donors asking them to become sustaining members. SAYD will fund the cost of the operation (paper, envelopes, postage, etc.). We also had AJay Frausto who is running for County Commissioner in Atascosa County. He is a young candidate and told us how he has beaten the “odds and nay-sayers” and got the party’s nomination. After the meeting we went to Pico de Gallo to enjoy food and Margaritas. Mmmm...Margaritas.

U.N. Human Rights Council Election Results.


Well, it looks like the Bush Administration just can’t be pleased. Here's the story.

After a reform of the U.N. Commission of Human Rights into the new U.N. Human Rights Council, there were elections to see what 47 countries would be on that council. The results are:

E. Europe: Russia, Azerbaijan, Czech republic, Poland, Romania, Ukraine.

Africa: Algeria, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia.

Asia: Bangladesh, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka.

S. America: Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.

Western Europe & other: Britain, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland.

(The United States didn’t have itself nominated – perhaps it thought that in the current international diplomacy climate, many western countries that would vote for it’s members on the council would rather be dipped in excrement than vote for Bush’s United States.)

Anyway, it’s upset that Russia, Cuba, China and Saudi Arabia made it onto the Council. These countries don’t measure up to the Bush Administration’s standards for human rights... one might question what those standards are when it concerns the Neo-Con record on human rights.

The Bush Administration had a fit over the composition of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, when the United States got booted off in 2001... Gee, I wonder why. Might it have something to do with the fact that the Bushies don’t like to play with others. For the CNN story from their archive, see here.

It’s true that many countries sought membership on the Commission to vote to protect their ability to abuse human rights. However, should these countries not be represented? – far from it. It’s easy for countries like Switzerland and Canada to talk about human rights – they don’t really have anything internal they would have to reform in order to make human rights work in their countries. Human rights are not an easy thing to achieve, especially when your the maintenance of your regime depends on the systematic violation of human rights. However, these countries are still sovereign entities, and just having Switzerland and Canada dictate terms will not work. There has to be a balance. Having Russia, China, Saudi Arabia and Cuba on the council is not such a bad deal, despite their appalling practices.

The Bushies need to get with the program. Disengagement from the United Nations, other than when you want to invade someone is not the way to promote constructive engagement. However, Republicans are too proud and self-righteous to bend and bear with their foreign policies. It's their way or the highway.... Well, they've put us on the highway to isolation. We've been there for quite some time already. It's going to take a Democratic President (elected in 2008, in office January 2009) years to gain back the diplomatic clout we had in the 90s, if it can ever be done.

Monday, May 01, 2006

The Bexar County Democratic Party in Dire Straights?

Greg Jefferson of the San Antonio Express-News wrote the following article, exposing the Bexar County Democratic Party's woes:

Carla Vela, the incoming chairwoman of the Bexar Democratic Party, isn't getting a set of office keys because there's nothing to unlock.

For the second time since last fall, the party has landed on the streets, without a headquarters. That's one reason Vela's swearing-in ceremony Tuesday night will take place in a union hall. (more)

The thing is, Jefferson is largely correct in the entire article. I spoke with Carla Vela this evening, and her assessment was largely the same.

However, this is no reason for alarm – the Party has always been cash-strapped. It has lived from hand-to-mouth as long as I have been involved, and I am certain it had been doing so loooong before I ever showed up.

Chairman Gabe Quintanilla (the Chairman before out-going Chairman Rudy Casias) left his successor in a relatively worse situation: no money but WITH an office (with a $1600.- monthly rent bill and a lease ‘till August 2004 – the May rent due immediately.) The point of this: It could be a hell of a lot worse. At least Carla Vela’s new Democratic Party isn’t starting off $1600.- in the hole.

The Bexar County Democratic Party needs to be built back up from scratch. That has basically been the case every time a new Chair takes office. Why is this sad situation thus? Because previous county chairs have incapacitated the CEC, filleting the party of any continuing structure – think of what happened to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq without Saddam Hussein – There really was no Iraq without Saddam Hussein – the same has held true for the Bexar County Democratic Party, but then every 2 or 4 years.

Carla Vela is already doing extraordinary things. She has convened a Steering Committee, consisting of the serving SDEC members, the Deputy Chairs (appointed by their constituencies), and the Chairs of the major Democratic clubs (The San Antonio Young Democrats included). Though presiding over this committee, Carla has entrusted this body with actual decision-making for the transition to building the new Bexar County Democratic Party within which the County Executive Committee will play the legitimizing role.

If you don’t realize how extraordinary this is, you have not been paying attention.

If the different grassroots factions can suspend their doubt about this working, if Carla can continue her trust in this institution she is re-building, and if the Party money and power elites are willing to invest in this Party, then the Bexar County Democratic Party can grow and become the institution it is supposed to be.