Two springs ago, Charles, Ted, and I went to photograph the gigantic Presidential head sculptures created by David Adickes, the Houston-based sculptor of very large things. The heads were created for a sculpture garden in Colonial Williamsburg, VA.
A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. gd! and I decided to develop several rolls of film that had been sitting around since our move. Among the rolls was this collection of photos from that lovely day.
For more on the heads, check out these two posts from Charles.
Enjoy!
December 1st, 2005
Posted by
Rob |
General comments, Texas |
no comments
I tried writing this nice conciliatory post about how silver the lining to this awful election loss really is, but I keep coming across little anecdotal snippets of people who waited in line for 10 hours in Ohio, 6 hours in Florida, and 4 hours in VA (my brother and sister-in-law) and I can’t quite get over the sneaking suspicion that the election was stolen. I just cannot believe that people would wait in line for a whole damned day to vote for the status quo. How many people could truly be that afraid of gay people getting married or whatever “moral values” means? Of course, like I said, these stories are all anecdotal and therefore don’t, include verifiable evidence of fraud. I still wonder why Kerry folded so fast. I think he should have waited the 11 days for the provisional count in Ohio and had his legal team kick over as many stones as possible in the interim. I think he failed us there, but there is nothing any of us can do about that, and I can’t hold it against him.
On top of that I heard Bush’s press conference this morning and I almost had a stroke. His arrogance goes to 11.
At this moment, my political feelings can best be summed up by the chorus to the Bloodhound Gang’s “The Roof is on Fire”. It’s probably not constructive to feel that way, but that’s the way it is.
I don’t have any answers. I don’t know what the Democratic Party is supposed to do now. I don’t know who should lead it. I don’t know if they should swing right or left or spin around in circles. I do think there is a lot of entrenchment and inertia in the party hierarchy on all levels and somehow that needs to be cleaned out. Of course I don’t have a clue about how to do it
My gut tells me that some really bad things are going to happen in the next 4 years. I hope to God that’s not the case, but, if the far right really is allowed to fulfill its agenda, I hope it wakes people up to the fact that the most pressing social problem in the nation is not gay marriage.
There are a few slivers of silver, I guess. On a personal level, I have made a lot of friends and gotten to know people I would never have met had I not become involved in the political process. Those friendships will carry on. We’ll need each other for moral support.
On a larger, less personal level, we on the left have some nascent institutions that weren’t there in 2000. We now have groups like the Center for American Progress, Media Matters for America, MoveOn, ACT, the New Democrat Network, and Democracy for America. We have a new media outlet in Air America that will continue to grow. We have an online community that has real power when it is united (see Dean and Sinclair). We need to support all of this stuff and probably more so than the party apparatus. If I had to guess, I would say these new institutions are where our success lies and our new leadership and direction should come from.
For now, I am going to take a step back from activism in the purely political realm. For the immediate future, I’m going to focus my energy on getting involved in my community. Initially I have chosen to volunteer with an organization that mentors kids in inner-city public schools. I feel that I can make a difference there, and Lord knows public school kids will need all the help they can get in the shadow of No Child Left Behind. I think a lot of Democrats who don’t know what to do next would do well to try the same. It can only be good for the soul after this awful, brutal campaign. On top of that, secular non-profits are really hurting right now. They need help and they are surely not going to get it from this faith-based administration.
As for this blog, all I know right now is that I have no desire to spend the next four years posting articles about Bush Administration atrocities. Others can do that. Additionally, as much as I enjoy it, I will probably not post many articles about process. I think that was part of the problem with the Democratic effort this time. Many of us, myself included, got too focused on polls and strategy and electability and just being anti-Bush. Somewhere in all that mess we lost our message, or at least allowed it to be diffused. The truth is I don’t want to be solely against something anymore. That sucks up too much energy. I want to be for something. Maybe I can use this blog to figure out what that should be. At the very least it will be a convenient place to post pictures of my cats and dogs.
So that’s it for now. It’s over. And it sucks. But we are still here and we have to move forward.
November 4th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
General, General comments, Interesting stuff, Politics, Texas |
4 comments
So the President was giving a speech in NH. When he utterd the words “God Bless” as in “God Bless America” the A/V team was supposed to fire the confetti canons. Problem was that Bush said “God Bless” five minutes early. Boom! Confetti begins showering down. The President looks shocked then scowls (or something).
quicktime video here(via kos diaries).
UPDATE: Also, be sure to check out how much Bush supporters value free speech — here and here
October 29th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
no comments
I voted this morning at the multi-purpose on W. Gray (Harris County’s hottest polling place). I go there about 8:30 and waited an hour and twenty minutes. It was not that bad of a wait, however, the people in line around me were friendly (though at least one guy was voting for the wrong candidate). One thing I noticed was that there was a lot of discarded campaign material on the bleachers and stage in the gym. That kind of bugged me. Oddly it was also all from GOP candidates. Either it was Dems throwing the stuff away in disgust, or it was some strategically-minded Republican conveniently leaving it behind. Personally I don’t care how it got there or which party it was for, but it should have been immediately removed by a poll-worker.
Additionally, a poll worker went around the gym telling people about having their voter registration card and what to do if the address was wrong. That kind of annoyed me because, although he was not saying it directly, he was insinuating that you needed to have your registration card with you. You don’t so I immediately asked in a polite, but loud voice if the registration card was required. He said no, but then he made some snide remark about “that’s why we sent it to you though”. True enough, but I wouldn’t want anyone leaving the line because they thought they needed their card.
Anyway, I am glad I voted early. I think I will laminate my little access code “receipt” for posterity.
October 29th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
one comment
The President gives the nation the one-fingered salute. Literally.
via kos
October 27th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
no comments
Today’s final TT candidate is Charlie Stenholm. Rep. Stenholm is another potential victim of Tom DeLay’s vile redistricting plane. He is fighting tooth and nail ot in West TX’s disticr 19 and will hopefully pull off a win. Check out his site as well.
October 26th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
no comments
Rachel over at VeryOpinionated was at the TX-22 debate in Clear Lake last night. Apparently DeLay did show up and left as quickly as he could. Rachel has more.
Incidentally, I caught the tail end of a debate between Richard Morrison and Tom Fjetland on KPFT yesterday. Well, it wasn’t much of a debate since DeLay didn’t show and Morrison and Fjetland seem to agree on just about everything. Anyway, it looks like you can listen to the RealPlayer stream of the debate here. Richard Morrison acquitted himself well.
Additionally, and on an unrelated note, if you post a comment here, it may not show up immediately. I have tightened comment moderation on the site. I’m not trying to censor anyone, but I am sick of some of the garbage that surf-by commenters have been leaving on my blog, so I decided to make it harder for that to happen.
October 20th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
one comment
Today’s candidate is Nick Lampson. Nick is a good guy who I have met before. He was also a target of Tom DeLay’s nefarious redistricting plan. HE is running agains Ted Poe who is currently running innacurate and nasty ads against Nick. Poe has his own problems, however. Seems he likes to get creative when sentencing people that come before his bench.
Here is a backgrounder on Nick.
October 12th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
no comments
Texas Tuesdays!
Today’s candidate is Chet Edwards. Rep. Edwards was another target of vile Tom DeLay’s nefarious redistricting plot. He is running in the new CD 17 which spreads from Fort Worth to College Station. He is running against a GOP oppenent that has difficulty telling the truth, but he is in pretty good financial shape, is a good candidate, and is used to fighting.
Backgrounder
Q&A
October 5th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
2 comments
Today’s installment of Texas Tuesdays focuses on Martin Frost and his quest to hold onto his seat in the House. Vile Tom DeLay himself has claimed that he targeted Frost with the whole redistricting plan, so this one is very important. Frost is running against DeLay lapdog Pete Sessions in District 32 up near Dallas. You can read an overview of the campaign and a discussion with the campaign over on TT’s site. Additionally, don’t miss the web-mercial (video link) in which Frost catches Sessions referring to the Iraq War and the War on Terror as “games”. Incidentally, the ad was produced by BlogPAC an new organization founded by Kos and Jerome of myDD.
To recap, if you really want to stick it to DeLay, you can do no better that to support Martin Frost. I would say that this race along with Richard Morrison’s race against the devil himself are two of the most important races in the nation.
September 28th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
5 comments
Who is the is the cat who won’t cop out when DeLay’s runnin’ about?
MORRISON!
Right on!
—
I almost missed the Texas Tuesday I had been most anticipating (stupid work)
The folks at TT have put together a few good posts about Richard.
There is a message from the man himself here.
There is an interview here.
There is a short informational piece here.
In a lot of ways, this race, that once seemed the longest of long shots, is one of the most important going. If we could somehow rid the House of Tom DeLay, either through criminal proceedings or, better yet, by electing a good man like Morrison, this country would be the better for it.
You can help Richard Morrison out here.
September 14th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
7 comments
I’m back from vacation and Texas Tuesdays is back on a Wednesday. Today TT shifts back to US House races. This week’s candidate is Jim Nickerson who is running in District 4 (Northeast Texas) against two-timing, yellow-bellied, party-switcher Ralph Hall. You can read a little bit about Nickerson here and check-out some of his stances on the issues here.
These house races are so important because every one we Democrats win is a kick in the nads to Tom DeLay and his redistricting plan. The good news is that Hall’s district is now huge and many of the people in it have never been represented by the nutty old turncoat, so Nickerson, who is toward the conservative end of the Dem spectrum, may have a good shot.
September 8th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
no comments
Today’s featured Texas Tuesday candidate is one of my favorite Houston-area state reps — Scott Hochberg. Rep. Hochberg was one of the brave Killer-D Democrats who went to OK to try to put the kibosh on Tom DeLay’s plan for redistricting. In a memorable Harris County Young Democrats meeting last spring, he (along with Garnett Coleman and Rick Noreiga) opened my eyes to how bad things were in the TX lege. I have spoken briefly with him a few times since then, and he gets my personal get donkey! endorsement as an all-around good guy. His race for district 137 will be a tough one this year, but he is one incumbent that deserves another term. You can read a brief background piece about him here and a longer piece about his electoral prospects here.
August 17th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
one comment
It’s a day late due to technical difficulties, but today is Texas Tuesday. Today’s candidate is Hubert Vo, who is running against the detestable Talmadge Heflin, and it looks like he has a great shot at winning the seat. I briefly met Mr. Vo last year, and think he is a good guy. You can read more about him here, and check out an interview with him here.
August 11th, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
5 comments
This Tuesday’s installment features two State House candidates from the H-town area — Wade Weems (background and interviw) who is running out in Brazoria county, and Charlotte Coffelt (background and http://www.texastuesdays.com/archives/000067.html) who is running in Kingwood. Both are running in GOP areas against special-interest entrenched GOP candidates. Both could use some help beating the odds. Go check them out at Texas Tuesdays.
August 3rd, 2004
Posted by
Rob |
Politics, Texas |
one comment
