As in 2004, the Texas Green Party will not be on the ballot in Texas in the November general election. Individual Greens can be written in, but you have to remind people to do that.
Why?
First, Barack Obama is a more dynamic candidate than John Kerry, making it an uphill battle.
Second, lack of organization.
I’m not a registered Green.
BUT, I e-mailed leaders of Dallas Greens almost a month ago, asking where, such as the main Half Price books location, Green volunteers might have ballot access petitions for signature, and when. I was going to put the information here, on my blog.
Nobody ever got back in touch with me.
It’s called ORGANIZATION, Texas Greens, or Dallas Greens, at least.
Maybe in 2012, you’ll recognize that.
Meanwhile, this time around, don’t blame other people without looking at your part first.
June 02, 2008
Call it the Gerard Arpey fee
American Airlines’ $15 fee for your first checked bag went into place yesterday.
Fortunately, I had just carry-ons for my flight back from San Francisco.
And, we actually got back to Dallas 15 minutes early.
But, let my tell you just what the Gerard Arpey fee did NOT get:
1. A boarding agent to run out the skybridge, hook it up, and open the airplane!
2. Working telephones in the flight attendants’ area at the back of the plane to check on when a boarding agent might get there, after the captain’s original call.
3. Flight attendants happy with Gerard Arpey, his big fat bonuses, or the crappy contract offered to various American unions.
Rather than e-mailing just one person, go to American’s website and bitch at a bunch of people. Since it's now 2 a.m., writing this in advance of going to sleep, I'm too tired to look up e-mail addys anyway!
Fortunately, I had just carry-ons for my flight back from San Francisco.
And, we actually got back to Dallas 15 minutes early.
But, let my tell you just what the Gerard Arpey fee did NOT get:
1. A boarding agent to run out the skybridge, hook it up, and open the airplane!
2. Working telephones in the flight attendants’ area at the back of the plane to check on when a boarding agent might get there, after the captain’s original call.
3. Flight attendants happy with Gerard Arpey, his big fat bonuses, or the crappy contract offered to various American unions.
Rather than e-mailing just one person, go to American’s website and bitch at a bunch of people. Since it's now 2 a.m., writing this in advance of going to sleep, I'm too tired to look up e-mail addys anyway!
Vella Cheese has done it again!
Bet you didn’t think Monterey Jack could taste as dry as Parmesan yet with unique Jack cheese taste.
Well, Sonoma, Calif. based Vella has topped its Special Select Dry Jack with a new Golden Bear Dry Jack, aged a minimum of two years.
So, next time you’re in California wine country, get more than just wine.
If you like cheddar, also, you MUST get to this place sometime. Whole Foods Market, and also Central Market, Dallas’ other lux grocery with multiple stores, sell Vella’s dry Jack (itself a delight), but don’t sell …
Vella’s 5-year-old raw milk cheddar.
Well, Sonoma, Calif. based Vella has topped its Special Select Dry Jack with a new Golden Bear Dry Jack, aged a minimum of two years.
So, next time you’re in California wine country, get more than just wine.
If you like cheddar, also, you MUST get to this place sometime. Whole Foods Market, and also Central Market, Dallas’ other lux grocery with multiple stores, sell Vella’s dry Jack (itself a delight), but don’t sell …
Vella’s 5-year-old raw milk cheddar.
June 01, 2008
Restaurant grease theft on the rise
As oil prices continue to soar, biodiesel gains interest. And, with that, restaurant grease becomes more attractive, whether gained by legal or illegal means.
A Burger King grease dumpster worth $6K? Yes. Grease worth 33 cents a pound? Yes.
Wonder how long it will be before fast-food places put video cameras on their grease bins.
A Burger King grease dumpster worth $6K? Yes. Grease worth 33 cents a pound? Yes.
Wonder how long it will be before fast-food places put video cameras on their grease bins.
On the coffee table — Gandhi and Churchill
It has been said of French president Clemenceau that he had one illusion, France, and one disillusion, mankind, including Frenchmen.
Arthur Herman, in his magisterial Gandhi & Churchill, five-starred by me at Amazon, shows how the same could be said of his twin protagonists over India and Indians.
Churchill’s illusion was that Britain could continue to hold on to the old British Raj, even after World War II and a bankrupt British treasury. His disillusion was rather a cynicism about Indian capacity for self-government, lumping Gandhi in with millions of other religious fakirs.
Gandhi’s illusion was multiple, but basically of two parts. The second was that a medieval-age India, with 300 million people all picking up Gandhi’s spinning wheel, was possible, was the best way for India to go, and was desired by most Indians. His second, more tragic illusion was that India without Muslim-Hindu partition was the only way to go, and that it could only be done on his terms.
Herman documents how Gandhi, not Churchill, not Viceroy Archibald Wavell, not Muhammad Ali Jinnah or anybody else, wrecked the last reasonable shot at an unpartioned India because it wasn’t done his way.
Gandhi’s illusion? That Indians wanted to follow his way of satyagraha, or “soul force,” in its nonviolence, as well as to become peasant-based, rather than Nehru’s vision of technology-driven socialism. Herman shows that British actions in Gandhi’s years of the Raj were NOT driven by nonviolence but rather, the fear of violence that accompanied most of Gandhi’s arrests, fasts from prison, etc.
In short, Gandhi comes off badly in this book, and deservedly so.
The mythical Gandhi of Ben Kingsley’s acting and of previous bios of the Mahatma is just that — a myth. Herman rightfully shows that Gandhi impeded India’s independence (at the times he wasn’t irrelevant). And the myth already gets shattered in his South Africa years.
Churchill, meanwhile, was Gandhi’s tar baby. His 1930s “years in the wilderness” were all due to India, ultimately. His irrationality on the subject had some influence on some of his wilder military tactics proposals during World War II, as well.
But Herman doesn’t stop there. He gets deeper into the personages of both, what drove them, and how neither could understand the other’s drives. Churchill, who was a secularist his adult life, could never understand, let alone accept, Gandhi’s religious revitalization. Gandhi, meanwhile, could understand Churchill more but would never lower himself from his hyper-idealist pinnacle enough to translate that into action.
If not for these two, India would have been independent earlier, and likely would have remained in the British Commonwealth.
An excellent book. And one of which this long review only scratches the surface.
And Herman, who helped his dad with galley proofs of a new translation of the Bhagavad-Gita when he was a child, has the academic and personal background to make this book excellent.
Arthur Herman, in his magisterial Gandhi & Churchill, five-starred by me at Amazon, shows how the same could be said of his twin protagonists over India and Indians.
Churchill’s illusion was that Britain could continue to hold on to the old British Raj, even after World War II and a bankrupt British treasury. His disillusion was rather a cynicism about Indian capacity for self-government, lumping Gandhi in with millions of other religious fakirs.
Gandhi’s illusion was multiple, but basically of two parts. The second was that a medieval-age India, with 300 million people all picking up Gandhi’s spinning wheel, was possible, was the best way for India to go, and was desired by most Indians. His second, more tragic illusion was that India without Muslim-Hindu partition was the only way to go, and that it could only be done on his terms.
Herman documents how Gandhi, not Churchill, not Viceroy Archibald Wavell, not Muhammad Ali Jinnah or anybody else, wrecked the last reasonable shot at an unpartioned India because it wasn’t done his way.
Gandhi’s illusion? That Indians wanted to follow his way of satyagraha, or “soul force,” in its nonviolence, as well as to become peasant-based, rather than Nehru’s vision of technology-driven socialism. Herman shows that British actions in Gandhi’s years of the Raj were NOT driven by nonviolence but rather, the fear of violence that accompanied most of Gandhi’s arrests, fasts from prison, etc.
In short, Gandhi comes off badly in this book, and deservedly so.
The mythical Gandhi of Ben Kingsley’s acting and of previous bios of the Mahatma is just that — a myth. Herman rightfully shows that Gandhi impeded India’s independence (at the times he wasn’t irrelevant). And the myth already gets shattered in his South Africa years.
Churchill, meanwhile, was Gandhi’s tar baby. His 1930s “years in the wilderness” were all due to India, ultimately. His irrationality on the subject had some influence on some of his wilder military tactics proposals during World War II, as well.
But Herman doesn’t stop there. He gets deeper into the personages of both, what drove them, and how neither could understand the other’s drives. Churchill, who was a secularist his adult life, could never understand, let alone accept, Gandhi’s religious revitalization. Gandhi, meanwhile, could understand Churchill more but would never lower himself from his hyper-idealist pinnacle enough to translate that into action.
If not for these two, India would have been independent earlier, and likely would have remained in the British Commonwealth.
An excellent book. And one of which this long review only scratches the surface.
And Herman, who helped his dad with galley proofs of a new translation of the Bhagavad-Gita when he was a child, has the academic and personal background to make this book excellent.
My first thoughts for Obama in general election
First, Sen. Obama, you, I’ll riff on George Wallace a bit. You can’t outmilitary Schmuck Talk Express™, so hammer him for being locked into war-first solutions.
• Along with that, you can’t out-military him with a certain vice-presidential choice. Translation? Don’t choose Jim Webb. Although I still lean Green right now, you can make me lean either less or more Green by whom you choose to run with you.
• Also in that header, don’t choose John Edwards. His poverty tour is a great idea, but, if he wouldn’t bust knuckles for John Kerry, will he for you?
• For other reasons, unless you have a gun to your head worse than the one Sam Rayburn pulled out on JFK in 1960, don’t choose Hillary, either. If a woman, like Kansas Gov. Sebelius, is a good choice in part because of an outreach to feminism-energized female supporters, make sure she is the choice for more than just that.
Second, on the “Muslim” Swift Boating that is sure to come in tidal-wave level, don’t just deny it.
Take an aggressive gamble. Call out the religious bigotry. Ask what would be wrong with a Muslim president. Consider using Rep. Keith Ellison in this regard, if he has any free time from his re-election campaign.
Call on McCain to denounce it. Every time it happens. Pin it to him hard.
• Along with that, you can’t out-military him with a certain vice-presidential choice. Translation? Don’t choose Jim Webb. Although I still lean Green right now, you can make me lean either less or more Green by whom you choose to run with you.
• Also in that header, don’t choose John Edwards. His poverty tour is a great idea, but, if he wouldn’t bust knuckles for John Kerry, will he for you?
• For other reasons, unless you have a gun to your head worse than the one Sam Rayburn pulled out on JFK in 1960, don’t choose Hillary, either. If a woman, like Kansas Gov. Sebelius, is a good choice in part because of an outreach to feminism-energized female supporters, make sure she is the choice for more than just that.
Second, on the “Muslim” Swift Boating that is sure to come in tidal-wave level, don’t just deny it.
Take an aggressive gamble. Call out the religious bigotry. Ask what would be wrong with a Muslim president. Consider using Rep. Keith Ellison in this regard, if he has any free time from his re-election campaign.
Call on McCain to denounce it. Every time it happens. Pin it to him hard.
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