Democrats set sights on Texas:

Reporting from Washington — As they review the results of Tuesday’s election victories and begin looking toward future campaigns, some Democrats have settled on a rallying cry: Texas is next.

It sounds improbable for the Republican bastion that produced President Bush and served as an early laboratory for Karl Rove’s hard-nosed tactics. But Texas is one of several reliably red states that are now in Democrats’ sights as party strategists begin to analyze a victorious 2008 campaign that they believe showed the contours of a new movement that could grow and prove long-lasting.

The main problem for Democrats with Texas is that there are parts of the state that are extremely small-c conservative, in the sense that they do what they’ve always done and it’s very rare that they change. Generational turnover will help them somewhat (as will the demographic changes mentioned in the article), but I don’t expect Texas to be truly competitive at the presidential level again for a while (maybe three or four additional cycles).

I’m willing to be proved wrong, though.

State failed to outline Bible classes for schools: I was sure the state board would give this matter the same thoughtful evaluation as it gave courses in aerobics and apparel in our public schools. In fact, the state board’s aerobics standards are specific to the point of making sure students can identify appropriate footwear. Standards for apparel courses specify that students will “apply principles of effective wardrobe planning.”

Surely the best-selling book in history, the book that hundreds of millions of Christians hold as their sacred scripture, would be given the respect and care given to aerobics and apparel.

I was wrong.

(Via Texas Freedom Network.)

When the creationist plurality currently on the state board of education loses a Baptist minister who can get an editorial like this published in the Abilene paper, you know they’ve lost a good part of their base. Texans might have an ornery, independent streak, but no one likes being laughed at. It’s time for voters to recognize the laughingstock this current BOE is making Texas, and vote appropriately at the next election.

T

he Austin Chronicle: News: Texas Fiction Science: The State Board of Education does its part to fantasize biology: There’s nothing the evil overlords of the fictional future like more than a nice, healthy round of brainwashing. Whether it’s George Orwell’s totalitarian government of Oceania thwarting rebellious citizens in 1984, the “conditioning” of children in Brave New World, or the large-scale human reprogramming in The Matrix, mind control is all the rage for governments looking to cultivate a herd of submissive subjects. And it’s so simple, too! All that’s necessary are a few moldable minds and a strict party line.

But here’s a bit of nonfiction: The Texas State Board of Education has just those two things.

This is the danger of introducing politics into our educational system. When people are able to essentially dictate what the science is, despite not having any relevant expertise, in order to fit their own religious biases, then our educational system is in real trouble. The SBOE is ignoring the recommendations of their own expert panel in pursuing this change, as well as the appropriate professional organizations.

Texas will be a laughingstock should these changes be allowed to be implemented. It’s time for Texans concerned with the education of our children to throw these bums out. Let them preach in their churches whatever they want. The schools are not to be a platform for their parochial views.

The Austin Chronicle: News: Can the Bands Play On?: The Live Music Task Force tunes up to protect Austin’s claim to fame: “Bands that formerly supplemented their limited local audiences and income by regional touring have seen the ever-rising price of gas devour the thin profit margins on out-of-town gigs. Once slacker-friendly, Central Austin is no longer affordable for a singer-songwriter eking out a living with a dream and a guitar. Could the famed Austin music scene be losing its vitality?

Among those taking these concerns seriously is Mayor Will Wynn, who issued a proclamation in January making 2008 ‘The Year of Austin Music.’ When speaking around town, the mayor carries the group’s audience-building message: Get off the couch, and go out to see at least one Austin band each month in 2008.”

(Via: The Austin Chronicle.)

It occurs to me that I haven’t been doing my part to help keep Austin’s music and art community vibrant and healthy. When I can find a schedule that allows me to, I think I’ll try to make a point to be a better patron of our local arts.

Austinist: YouTubeTexas: Here’s the Bush Video They Didn’t Want You To See: “During a political fundraiser for Congressional candidate Pete Olson in Houston last Friday, President Bush admits that the economy is clearly in the pits.

‘There is no question about it. Wall Street got drunk,’ he says. ‘That’s one reason I asked you to turn off your TV cameras.’

‘The question is, How long will it (take to) sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?’”

(Via The Austinist.)

Interesting analogy, coming from Bush….

Seeded at Newsvine:

In Texas, McCain leads with 42 percent to Obama’s 39 percent, Barr’s 6 percent and Nader’s 2 percent.

Seeded at Newsvine:

An advisory letter written by Andrew Weber, deputy attorney general for legal counsel for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office, and sent to the Statesman by various advocacy groups Wednesday, said the curriculum requirements adopted by the State Board of Education for cour …

Seeded at Newsvine:

The border fence project has faced embarrassments–illegal immigrants employed to build the wall, a “Virtual Fence” project that cannot distinguish humans and vehicles from livestock and bushes–but those setbacks pale in comparison to its fundamental flaws.

Seeded at Newsvine:

“Anyone that Barack Obama wants is my choice for vice president,” Pelosi told the interviewer, who appeared to be from Newsweek.

This is a little late, since the festival was a month ago this weekend. However, I’m testing out a version of MarsEdit, and I would like to start blogging more. This is a re-post of an article I wrote for Newsvine the weekend of the festival.

Another Austin City Limits Music Festival has come and gone.

Like almost every year, in spite of buying a three day pass at outrageous prices, I rarely show up early for a full festival day (about half the years I haven’t even gone every day). My philosophy on events like this is that I’m there to enjoy them, which means no schedules, no pressure. So I missed a lot of the acts. If you want a good recap of each of the day’s events, head over to Mel Coulter’s column, where she’s been providing officially sanctioned (press pass and everything!) coverage for the event. Congrats to Mel, and I’ve liked the articles she’s published so far. Rather than try to duplicate her coverage, I’m going to focus on the acts which impressed me the most.

Challenges, roadblocks, and an explosion!

This years festival will be noted for its inauspicious beginnings, as several eagerly expected acts pulled out, either several weeks ago (Amy Winehouse) and even barely a week before the festival gates opened (Rodrigo y Gabriela, The White Stripes). The first day of the festival also saw a small tragedy, as a propane tank explosion at a food service area behind the main stage injured four

festival workers, two seriously (see story).

Despite the setbacks, this festival was fortunate in a number of other ways, with large, friendly crowds excited to see the acts and cooler weather than had been seen in ’05 (with Saturday at a record 108 degrees) and ’06. The festival promoters have also worked closely with Austin Parks and Recreation staff to ensure that a repeat of the infamous “dust bowl” festival of ’05 didn’t repeat itself, seeding the grounds of Zilker Park in early summer with a particularly hardy variety of grass. All in all, this festival may have been the smoothest run ever, with staff settling into routine efficiency.

The one exception might be “the festival crap” store, which ran out of most styles of ACL Fest shirts by early Saturday. Happily I bought mine Friday, but the poor guys who had only Sunday day passes probably weren’t too happy. (Admittedly, all the styles will likely be on sale on-line at the festival website in the near future.) Surprisingly, among the first to go were the “green” shirts made of bamboo fiber which were $15 more than the “regular” shirts from American Apparel.

Not unlike ACL Fest itself, I faced my own set of technical glitches. Apparently, I forgot to charge my Li-ion AA batteries for my Canon digital camera, and I didn’t have replacements with me. Rather than pay festival prices for standard AA batteries that my camera was just going to eat, I didn’t get any pictures on Friday. On Saturday, particularly after the sun went down, I found out that my aging 4 MP camera just wasn’t going to cut it. I made out with barely a half dozen acceptable shots. Before heading to the festival on Saturday, suspecting I might be disappointed with the Canon, I picked up a new 8 MP Nikon Coolpix S51 point-and-shoot. I had to let the battery pack charge, but everything was set on Sunday, when I was finally able to score some decent photos. It’s no digital SLR, but it is small, thin, light, and idiot proof (the last most important of all).

Friday

I had wanted to see LCD Soundsystem on Friday, but events conspired against me, keeping me from the festival until around 7:30. However, my reporter on the ground told me both Peter Bjorn and John and M.I.A. put on great shows. Near the end of her set, M.I.A. invited the crowd up on stage, which crowd, being the helpful sort, dutifully obeyed. This resulted in the predictable security freak-out by the festival organizers (“Not on our liability policy, M.I.A.”) and her mic was cut. From my reporter’s perspective, seven card studpoker caribe portalreglas pokerstrip poker gamereglas texas holdemjoker pokerjuego al instante portales internet,juego al instante,juego al instante onlinejuego al instante portales webstrep poker onlinestrip pokeronline poker gamejuego omaha poker en lineacaribbean poker paginas webcaribbean poker portales webpoker downloadjuegos de cartas de pokerpoker flash gamepoker de 5 cartasjuego al instante portal webbonus pokerfichas pokerjuegos de poker en espa?oljuegos online gratis pokerjuego de poker en lineapoker en linea gratispoker pc gamepoker descarga gratisjuegos on line pokerstrep poker on linepoker de dadosjuego del poker en lineatexas holdem descargajuegos de polly pokerpai gow poker onlinetexas holdem onlineholdem poker reglasdescarga gratis de pokerjuego omaha poker gratispai gow poker lineajuego al instante paginas internetjugar poker sin dineropoquer de dadosplay poker omaha freepoquer online gratisjugar a poquerjugar poker gratis,aprende a jugar poker,jugar pokerpoker on line espa?olganar dinero pagina internetapuesta webpremios dinero paginas web however, it was pretty hilarious.

I walked into the festival soon after Kaiser Chiefs began their set. A round of text-messaging with Chasing completed, I met up with him and caught up on the day’s events. I also filled him in on the news reports about the propane tank explosion (apparently news at the actual festival was scarce). Our group trekked up to a spot for The Killers and caught a half dozen songs (eh) before walking across the park to watch the rest of Björk’s set.

As I told Tommy, I’m really more of a fan of Björk’s older material. But as Tommy told me, Björk isn’t getting any younger (or saner), and who knows when we’ll get a chance to see her again. Easily convinced by this line of (il)logic, we made our way down to watch Björk’s unique brand of performance (complete with an all-female horn section dressed up as…well something vaguely fairy-like).

Saturday

After a late lunch with the roommate and a detour to Best Buy where I picked up the aforementioned Nikon camera, I again got to the festival grounds late. Luckily, due to the White Stripes cancellation, Muse had been bumped down to the closing set for Saturday, and there weren’t many other big-names I had to see Saturday.

Another round of texting with Chasing, and we met up for the finishing bits of the Arctic Monkeys’ set. Chasing’s brother Skip then wanted to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who were surprisingly good (my first exposure), but perhaps not suited for the size of the venue. I can imagine them rocking one of the smaller stages, though.

Here we split ways with Skip, who wanted to see The Arcade Fire, while we wanted to see Muse. Having seen Arcade Fire in ’05 at ACL Fest, and being a little underwhelmed by their latest CD Neon Bible, I’ve got to say that those of you who caught Arcade Fire missed out (in my opinion) on the best show of the festival. Muse was nothing short of a revelation, putting on a high energy, loud, raucous show. If Radiohead and Slayer had a bastard child and made Meatloaf its godfather, you might end up with a band like Muse. Good stuff, and I bought one of their four CDs at the festival store (the rest were completely sold out!).

Muse may have been filming a concert DVD, or so I heard. Of note was that the video feeding the “jumbotron” stage monitors on either side of the stage, unlike almost every act, was processed with special effects in real time. If a DVD does in fact come out, I plan to get it. You should, too. (And it’s not just the contact high from the copious amounts of pot smoke taking place around me talking.)

Also of note, the set involved an intermission of sorts during which a portion of a speech by John F. Kennedy was read (probably this one). The crowd ate it up, and a part that I remember being read follows:

It is the unprecedented nature of this challenge that also gives rise to your second obligation–an obligation which I share. And that is our obligation to inform and alert the American people–to make certain that they possess all the facts that they need, and understand them as well–the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices that we face.

No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition. And both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.

I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers–I welcome it. This Administration intends to be candid about its errors; for as a wise man once said: “An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.” We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors; and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed–and no republic can survive. That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy. And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment– the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution- -not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply “give the public what it wants”–but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.

Chasing noted that there is probably a bit of unappreciated irony in this speech, but I don’t think it matters too much for the point Muse was trying to make.

Sunday

Another late lunch (what can I say, on weekends I sleep in), but I did get to the festival grounds around 4:30. A bit of criss-crossing the grounds to locate Chasing, and we made it over to meet his brother for the Bloc Party set.

The Bloc Party crowd was one of the more enthusiastic of the festival, and Kele Okereke made sure they got their money’s worth. At one point he jumped from the stage, mic in hand, and ran the length of the fence separating him from the crowds several times, undoubtedly making a good number of fans very happy.

Chasing had wanted to see Regina Spektor, but we made a detour through the festival arts & crap area. A very talented artist by the name of Collin Welsch sucked us in with her wonderful Dia De Los Muertos images , and we all left with something. I myself picked up three images of the Tree of Life. A bit of t-shirt shopping also complete, we only caught the last five minutes of Regina Spektor.

A little disappointed, hot, and somewhat tired, we took a break in front of the “second main” stage for Wilco. Afternoon was well on its way to turning into evening, so shade was blessedly plentiful. The guys in Wilco were their regular wonderful selves, although I was admittedly not paying much attention, instead recharging myself with a quick rest before the sprint to the end.

Chasing’s sister and I made a detour to grab some grub, and then we met up again for Ghostland Observatory, a local band that has seen a lot of exposure over the last year, including ’06 ACL Fest and ’07 Lollapalooza. This was another band that put on a fantastic show, and the crowds proved it. Another CD purchased at the festival store. Playing opposite Ghostland in this timeslot were The Decemberists, but I think most people were at my end of the park.

…Or maybe not. After Ghostland Observatory finished up, we moseyed over to watch Bob Dylan. Chasing and I both hold a certain amount of respect for Dylan, but we’re not fans. Tommy and Chasing’s sister, however, ditched us early on and pushed for the front. Luckily, the closing set of ACL Fest is always scheduled alone, and the main stage is built at a spot where the terrain acts as a natural amphitheater. Bob could be heard throughout most of the park, so Chasing and I held back and just relaxed.

Dylan went a little over his scheduled time (city noise ordinances proscribe festivals from playing past 10 PM), but it wasn’t too much after this that it was all over. Tired, dirty, sneezing, but happy, satisfied, and full of new ideas for music purchases, we headed back for our cars through the greenbelt. In all, this was another successful festival, and despite ever-increasing ticket prices, I’m sure I’ll go again next year.

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