Category: take action

politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.

Obama Walk for a Change

The National Barack Obama campaign is encouraging folks to get out and “Walk for a Change” this Saturday.
From the campaign:

Dear Friend,
For too many people, politics is a bad word. It’s not surprising since for many people “politics” means talking heads screaming at each other on TV, or special interests stacking the deck in Washington.
We have an opportunity to change that. When politics gets local, when the person talking is your neighbor standing on your front porch, things change.
On June 9th, hundreds of thousands of people will have that experience as we take our campaign to the streets in all 50 states for a nationwide neighborhood walk.
We’re calling it Walk for Change, and its success depends on you. I’m asking you for something extraordinary. I’m asking you to lead a group of supporters in your community in a neighborhood walk to let people know about our campaign.
If you agree to organize a walk, we’ll mail you the materials you need to start a conversation with your neighbors about being part of this movement for change. But it can only happen if you’re willing to take the leap and put together a June 9th Walk for Change event where you live:
http://my.barackobama.com/createwalk
It’s not common these days to reach out to a neighbor.
We’re more likely to nod quickly and smile when unloading the groceries or walking the dog than we are to stop and talk about the things that shape our common destiny.
But the great issues of our day shouldn’t just be topics to fill time between commercials on cable news. These challenges — ending the war in Iraq, solving the health care crisis, tackling climate change — affect each one of us personally.
And the solutions to each one will require personal investment from all of us.
That’s why it’s so important to create this dialogue in your community — to have a serious conversation about what matters most to your neighbors, and to share with them why this movement for change is personal for you.
http://my.barackobama.com/createwalk
We shouldn’t be afraid. Americans everywhere are hungry for change, and waiting for someone to show them where change will come from.
On June 9th, if you organize a Walk for Change event, that change will come from your community, and the person showing the way will be you.

Thank you.
Barack Obama

P.S. — As you read this, people across the country are planning their events using the My.BarackObama.com tools. If you’re not ready to host your own walk, there may already be one in your community that you can join. Use our interactive map to search for one near you:
http://my.barackobama.com/createwalk

Growth, growth, growth

The numbers are in from NCTCOG and according to their estimates, Ellis County’s population has grown 4.37% over the last year. That’s 6,050 people in 12 months, or roughly 16 new people moving in to the county every day. That’s a little lower than other figures I’ve heard recently. Some have suggested there are 22 new people moving in to the county every day.
Either way, that’s some rapid growth. Red Oak tops the list with 16.13% growth, despite everyone hating on their police department for alleged traffic ticket quotas.
Folks in Ferris, Italy, Ovilla and Palmer can rest assured though. They’ve apparently brought in no additional folks to their quaint towns.

Read the full report for the North Texas Region.

Grapevine Rail

The city of Grapevine is getting new passenger rail service. It should be in place by 2012.
Voters passed a three-eighths of a cent increase in the sales tax to approve building a new extension of the old Cotton Belt line that will connect Grapevine with DFW Airport, and later the DART Rail System, Colleyville, North Richland Hills and the Fort Worth Stockyards.
It will also pass by Haltom City, Richland Hills and Southlake.
With proposed extensions, the southernmost stop would be near Texas Christian University at Berry Street in Fort Worth, with other stops in the Medical District, downtown and near Interstate 35W north of 28th Street.
This was a smart move by Grapevine as they didn’t wait for the Texas Lege to get anything done this session – good thinking because I don’t think anything did get done this session.
The Legislatures were expected to consider removing the 8.5 cent sales tax cap for cities wanting to increase their sales tax for public transportation infrastructure, like passenger rail.
But now Grapevine is ahead of the curve and the new rail service is sure to bring even more economic development to the area.
Startlegram writer OK Carter had an analyst/overview of the decision by Grapevine in Sunday’s paper.
I’d love to see a rail line extended into Waxahachie.
The NCTCOG has proposed a rail line that would extend to downtown Waxahachie, make a stop at 287 and 77, another stop in Red Oak, and a final stop in Lancaster before arriving at Union Station, connecting passengers to the rest of the DART and TRE lines.
I know Laurie and I would surely take advantage of the system if it was in place here.
The COG estimates the cost would be $266.66 million.
In Grapevine, the county tossed in $25 million to the rail and the COG is expected to throw in $60 million.
If Waxahachie could get a similar deal, (unlikely since the county just passed a $53.8 million bond issue for facilities) the remaining $181 million could be divided by all three cities bringing the cost to around $61 million each.
It’s going to take some serious sales tax revenue increases and/or a property tax increase to see that kind of money raised. But if the people want it, they can make it happen.
Just gotta remember to shop Waxahachie and start bugging the city council members about it.
With a downtown station and a station at 287 and 77 you can just imagine the growth Waxahachie could see. That 4.67% that COG is talking about could really rise quickly.
If I remember correctly, DART has said in the past that in every area where they’ve built a light rail station, they’ve seen an average of $3.3 million invested into new commercial and residential improvements.
That’s a lot of money that could come to downtown Waxahachie and add some needed retail, eateries as well as upstairs living spaces, such as lofts.

Read the latest COG report.

Tequilla prices on the rise too


As reported yesterday, German beer prices are on the rise as more German farmers are growing biofuel crops rather than barley and hops.
Last night my dad told me that Paul Harvey reported that Mexican farmers are burning their blue agave, which is used for tequila, in order to keep up with US demand for corn/ethanol.
(interesting sidenote on the generation gap – I go to the web and blogs for my news, my dad gets most of his from Paul Harvey)
From Treehugger/Reuters:

The switch to corn will contribute to an expected scarcity of agave in coming years, with officials predicting that farmers will plant between 25 percent and 35 percent less agave this year to turn the land over to corn. “Those growers are going after what pays best now,” said Ismael Vicente Ramirez, head of agriculture at Mexico’s Tequila Regulatory Council….
Many growers have started to abandon the crop in favor of corn, whose price has rocketed in line with massive growth in U.S. demand for ethanol after President Bush outlined targets last year to use the corn-based fuel as a gasoline alternative.

All this talk of ethanol reminds me of a great episode from the West Wing – “King Corn.” Mmm the West Wing. Can television get any better?
With all the rush to make alternative fuels – why don’t we just burn beer and tequila in our cars ;-)?
I had a friend use everclear in his motorcycle once. He was short on gas money. He said it ran amazing for two full days. Even shot fire out the tailpipe when he accelerated fast.
The downside was it ran so clean and hot that it froze his entire engine up by the end of the second day.

Check MSNBC for more coverage