News & Views

“What do you do for a living?”   

Not exactly a trick question.  Still, I stood there speechless.  The clerk at the Verizon store looked up from his computer screen and stared at me with a puzzled expression.  When he asked me the question, he probably didn’t even really care about the answer.  He was just trying to be friendly while I waited for him to activate my new phone.   But since there was a delay in my response, now he was curious.

“I…uh…have a couple of properties I look after.”   

He kept staring at me, his brow furrowed.   I stammered around some more.   

“I mean, I have some rental properties that I take care of.”

“Okay,” he said, looking back at his computer screen and giving a little shrug, as if to say, “Was it really that hard of a question?”

APAC invites all concerned citizens to join the movement whether online or in person. This message is from APAC to all residents of Austin:

We are a group of organizations and individuals who are dedicated to common principles of meaningful police transparency and accountability for the Austin Police Department. We want to see APD provide safety for all residents of Austin.

Problem

Here are links to two different authors thoughts on the subjects. Enjoy and let us know what you think!

Introducing the TOY Marriage:

The Relationship Model for Modern Couples

(Lifetime Commitment Not Included)

Thirty-five year old San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was quick on his feet and even got in a lick or two of his own as a guest on the Steven Colbert show last night, something not many guests are able to do.  Watch the video here - Castro rocks!

Just got word about Senator Robert Byrd dying and not too sure what to make of it. The first thoughts that came to mind are, he's been serving my entire life and damn near my parents entire lives. Dude has sat in the Senate for almost 60 years. That's a long time. I keep asking myself, why do we have so many Senators who get to sit up in office till they are that old? The late Strom Thurman, Jesse Helms and Ted Kennedy are a few long time fixtures that come to mind...If you serve in office for that long can you be effective? Did they do what was needed for their states? If you're a Democrat or left leaning was he and others strong advocates or obstacle?

Long time actor/activist Danny Glover is here in Detroit at the US Social Forum making the rounds and showing support. We sat down with him along with our radio colleague Nora Barrows Friedman and got his perspectives on the city of Detroit and it's important history in the Freedom and Labor Struggles.

Like the rest of the nation, we here in Texas were utterly horrified when Congressman Joe Barton who represents the 6th district in Texas, got on the stand and accused the President of these United States of trying to shake down a company (BP) that was beyond negligent in their duties.

The entire Gulf Coast is suffering and will continue to suffer for years to come and the very least that can happen is that a company that makes up to 63 milliion dollars a day can start compensating all the businesses that are shut down.

Long time artists Favianna Rodriguez who hails from Oakland, California and Cesar Maxit, originally from Houston and now living in Washington DC, came togther for a special exibit in the nation's capital where they talked about the intersection between Art and Politics.

The other day while doing our daily Hard Knock Radio show we were blessed to have Felipe Matos, Carlos Roa and Juan Rodriguez from the Trail of Dreams come to the studio to talk about their historic meeting with Sheriff Joe Arpaio over immigration. Also in the studio was former Minister of Culture of the Black Panther party Emory Douglass.. Wow what a moment.. Intergenerational, cultural and just seeing freedom fighters old and new break bread...

Here's a video of Austin City Manager Marc Ott answering the question "What do you think of Austin?" at Huston-Tillotson University in Jan, 2010.

See the Marc Ott video, Part Two, "A Call to Action!"

Marc Ott, City Manager of Austin, Texas, sharing a call to action while speaking at Huston Tillotson University in January, 2010.

See the Marc Ott video, Part One, "What do you think of Austin?"

This is an incredible lecture that everyone needs to peep that breaks down the current state of affairs with our economy. This cat Professor Richard Wolff is a beast when it comes to this as he lets us know what is going down goes beyond money... The quality on these clips aren’t all that great... You can get better qualities at his website..http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/

Below is a more detailed description of what’s on these clips…They come in 9 parts.

With breathtaking clarity, renowned University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today’s economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself.

Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s, when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown.

By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic frame, Wolff argues convincingly that the proposed government “bailouts,” stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis – in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes.

Richly illustrated with motion graphics and charts, this is a superb introduction designed to help ordinary citizens understand, and react to, the unraveling economic crisis.

This interview with Rand Paul is interesting on a number of levels. The way it's being spun is that he handed ABC host George Stephanopoulos his ass. I can see that being the case only in the sense that Paul was prepared for the inevitable questions on his controversial stances around Civil Rights. Up to now a lot has been made about his take on things in this arena and to be honest it’s more than obvious what conclusions you can draw from them - dude is smooth, but anyway you slice it he simply wasn’t down for the advancements of the Civil Rights Movement.

But this year, I totally disagree with how they’re trying to categorize us. You know how they make us look on TV? Like we live on the front porch with flies and shit flying around us, with our stomachs all big eating watermelon rinds? That ain’t us, man. -Scarface-