David Bruce Collins—the Official Site - Blog

David Bruce Collins—the Official Site

Chronicle: GPTX Ballot Access and Climate Policy

19/9/2019

Chronicle photo of ten Green Party candidates with fists raised at a press conference during the Green Party's 2016 national convention at the University of Houston.

Green Party candidates from Texas and across the country hold up their fists after speaking at a press conference at the Green Party Convention at the University of Houston Friday, August 5, 2016 in Houston. (Michael Ciaglo / Houston Chronicle)

PDiddie's comment on the most recent entry alerted me to Marina Kormbaki's article in the Chronicle's online edition. (UPDATE: GPTX comrade Don Cook has informed us that the story is also in the print edition, on page A-3.) I had thought that the author would send me a message when it went to digital press; perhaps Janis Richards, Laura Palmer, and I will hear from her today.

As coverage of the Green Party in mainstream papers goes, Kormbaki's piece is above average. It contains no obvious factual errors and treats the Party as a legitimate political movement, not just a one-off human-interest story. It certainly doesn't hurt that Kormbaki works for a German news outlet aligned with the Social Democrats, a party whose role as leaders of the left is gradually shifting to the Greens, as is happening elsewhere in Europe.

The photo selected to accompany the article features some Greenfolk I love and admire, such as the late Ashely "Flashe" Gordon (on the right end, partially obscured by a camera). This photo helps bust the persistent myth that the Green Party is just for old white recovering hippies. It is a microcosm of the convention delegates and the Party as a whole: diverse in ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and other dimensions.

dbc Interviewed for Chronicle Article

13/9/2019

Too bad the headline couldn't be "dbc Interviewed for Job at Chronicle." But I can fantasize that my editorial skills are worthy of a position at the Chron.

Exchange journalist Marina Kormbaki, who also appears in this entry, interviewed me by phone today for about a half-hour. She also interviewed my Green comrade Laura Palmer and possibly some others. The interviews covered several overlapping topics, all having to do with the state of the Green Party in Texas and its positions on climate policy, in light of the Democrats' debate devoting all of five minutes to The Biggest Existential Threat Other Than Thermonuclear Annihilation last night.

I'll let y'all know when Kormbaki's article appears in the print or online editions of the Chronicle.

Hawkins Completes Texas Tour in Houston

10/9/2019

A group photo with nine of the attendees at Howie Hawkins's campaign appearance, plus Don and Laura Palmer's two children.

Presidential candidate Howie Hawkins (third from left, in the Teamsters t-shirt) met with some Houston-area Greenies at the Palmers' residence.

First, a disclaimer: I like and respect Howie Hawkins as a candidate for president, but I haven't entirely made up my mind whether I'll be a delegate for him at the Green Convention in Detroit next year. I also like and respect Dario Hunter, the other Green who has met the requirements for presidential candidacy thus far, but I have yet to meet him in person.

That said, after last night (see this hour-long video of last night if you're so inclined), if Hawkins does win the Green presidential nomination, I plan to campaign for him as hard as I did for Jill Stein in 2012 and 2016, and possibly as hard as I remember promoting Ralph Nader in 2000. This is especially true if the Democratic Party nominates yet another triangulating centrist.

I am willing to overlook recent missteps in which Hawkins echoed the establishment narrative about Russia interfering with US elections, because no candidate is going to get everything right. Folks who accuse Greens of imposing "purity tests" on candidates because we can't abide voting for centrist Democrats can stick those accusations where the proverbial sun don't shine.

More importantly, however, I have enormous respect for some of the progressive luminaries lining up to support him, including the late Bruce A. Dixon and 2016 VP nominee Ajamu Baraka of Black Agenda Report. Plus, yesterday former Alaska senator Mike Gravel, briefly a presidential candidate in this cycle, urged his supporters to back...no, not Bernie; no, not Tulsi; Howie.

Busy September Reminders

9/9/2019

See the Activist Calendar for additional information, included street addresses.

In case you'd like to join in the fun:

Tonight 9 September: Howie Hawkins visits Houston, fresh from appearances in Dallas and Austin.
Tomorrow 10 September: Green Party Houston meets at the home of Deb Shafto and the late George Reiter. Part of the evening will be devoted to brainstorming about a permanent meeting space.
Thursday 12 September: Supposedly right here in Third Ward a painstakingly curated subset of the Democratic presidential candidates will be not holding a debate on climate policy. Some climate activists will gather nearby, at the corner of Blodgett and Ennis Streets, near TSU's athletic facilities, to express their disappointment in the Democratic National Committee for not adopting the climate-debate resolution.
Wednesday 18 September: Extinction Rebellion HTX has its second meeting at the AFL-CIO Hall. The main focus of that meeting will be preparations for...
Friday 20 September: Houston's contribution to the international Climate Strike will take place at City Hall at noon, facilitated by the Sunrise Movement. Walk out of school or work to show your concern for an issue far more important than that trig test you'll probably miss.

Apart from XR HTX, another organization in which I participate will have a delegation at the Climate Strike: namely, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston. Look for them in their yellow Side with Love t-shirts (formerly known as Standing on the Side of Love). There will be a planning meeting in the church's Fireside Room following the service, on Sunday the 15th at about noon.

The Rebellion Is Underway in Houston—Maybe

5/9/2019

It's no longer a secret that Extinction Rebellion now has a presence in Houston. What kind of presence, we won't know for a bit, at least not until 20 September. Even if I knew, I would not say.

I can tell you that some people who showed up at last night's XR HTX organization meeting will appear at the Climate Strike rally outside Houston's City Hall on that Friday afternoon, but I can't tell you who will show up or what (if anything) they will do there.

Harry's Gone

28/8/2019

This is an update of the post from 25 August. As with Sunday's entry, we're leaving some of this intentionally vague.

Yesterday morning, I contacted Harry Hamid's brother, who informed me that Harry might not make it through the day. I heated up and ate some leftovers, and then headed over to the nearest Metro stop to travel to the Texas Medical Center. While I was en route, the brother sent me a text message that Harry had passed away.

When I arrived, family members and co-workers were gathered in or near the ICU where Harry spent his last days.

PDiddie also noted Harry's passing as an update to this week's Weekly Wrangle. If I'm not mistaken, he got to visit Monday; I did not, mostly due to an errand I had to run in Greater Woodlands that afternoon, but I'm fairly sure that my showing up Monday wouldn't have done any good. At least I can say that I could provide comfort and information to his family yesterday.

If there is an afterlife, I'd like to think that Harry Hamid's spirit will continue to take occasional strolls through Montrose after midnight.

Extinction Rebellion Organizing Meeting, 4 September

27/8/2019

I'm happy to report that Houston will soon have an active chapter of Extinction Rebellion. The organizing meeting happens at 6:30 next Wednesday evening, 4 September, at the AFL-CIO Hall on Sutherland Street. The hall is off the Gulf Freeway, near the intersection of Telephone Road and Wayside Drive. It's also on the Activist Calendar on this site.

XR HTX is not yet on Facebook, but there is a Twitter account that one can follow.

Sec'y of State Releases New Candidate Guidelines

26/8/2019

Psst. Hey you. Wanna run for office as a Green or Libertarian? There's an app for that.

As of this writing, the Secretary of State's Office has not released the petition sheet for candidates in convention-nominating parties who are too broke or cheap to pay the filing fee. That will supposed be ready next week.

The important dates to remember right now, if you are even contemplating a run for office, are 9 November and 9 December. Those are the beginning and ending dates of the period for filing an application with your county or state party. The November date is the earliest date you can walk into the SOS Office with your filing fee, the amounts for which are displayed in a table on the paged linked above.

DNC = Debate Not on Climate

26/8/2019

The Democratic Party's leadership has now officially become an obstacle to sound climate policy. This Buzzfeed story has the important facts—maybe not all the facts, but it tells the story more clearly than any other I have seen thus far. Prog Twitter is articulately making its collective displeasure known as well.

Considering that I haven't considered myself a Democrat in nearly a quarter-century, and considering that I was expecting the resolution to be voted down, I'm probably more miffed about this than I should be. It's less about the vote itself than the fact that millions of self-identified Progressives (and even Radicals) will still cling to the Democrats because the Republicans are so much worse.

1. The DNC voted against holding a climate debate even though Democratic voters and all the major Democratic candidates wanted one.

It raises serious questions about corporate influence on the party apparatus.

Let's follow the money.https://t.co/ukyoqbwABd
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 26, 2019

Paid a Visit to Harry Hamid This Evening

25/8/2019

Photo of blogger Harry Hamid in a back yard, wearing a pink guayabera shirt and clutching his walking cane.

It took a while to recognize this man as blog-brother Harry Hamid.

Fellow Houston blogger Harry Hamid (not his real name) has been chronicling his battle with cancer for the last few months. As with most of Harry's public writing, his posts and Tweets have been long on mental and emotional impressions, short on nitty-gritty details—at least that's true of the one's that I've seen. This report will have to be similar lacking in detail, vague even, because I'm not sure what I'm authorized to reveal.

Mere weeks ago, Harry was in remission and back at his parents' home. Tonight, I visited him in an ICU in one of the major Texas Medical Center hospitals. When I saw his Tweets taking a turn toward resignation, it was a wake-up. Somehow I missed this post two months ago, so I didn't know about his LifeFlight ride between hospitals. It was his first time flying in a helicopter; his mother told me that he slept through it.

Radiation and chemo today. I am being aggressive in fighting this. I want to live. There’s a lot I still want to do in my life.
— Harry Hamid (@katydidknot) August 16, 2019