Bay Area Houston

Give me a bit to explain the “bitches” reference.

We have a pretty close group of neighbors. Most are just a tad younger than us. In fact they are young enough to be our kids and they drink like them too! One day we were gathering at our regular place on the driveway and I walked up and said “What’s up bitches?”. Everyone got a laugh out of it so that sort of stuck. My neighbor gave me this great kitchen towel that seems appropriate. Thanks Amber!

But, back to the intent of this post. I retired from NASA last Friday after 29.5 years. I was going to wait till December but a friend of mine who is retiring in May said “What are you waiting for? Life is too short.” He is right. I left. Thank you NASA for the 29.5 years!

So now I intend to blog more and I have no boundaries or limitations, as if I had any to begin with. I intend to continue to be full of wit and I might even speak out about NASA and the trip to Mars that isn’t going to happen any time soon, and how SpaceX history of massive failures should be a wakeup call for many, especially the astronauts. I look forward to looking over campaign finance reports and restarting my “Spending Campaign Cash” series and voicing opinions on people who wake up and decide to run for an office they know nothing about. I might even start shaming the Hispanic Community because they do not vote their strength because nothing else has seemed to work. I also will continue blogging about consumer issues. I might even go to Austin next year to discuss issues with elected officials. I look forward to it all.

So, I am back. Bitches.

And yet….nearly 30% of Hispanics still support this racist president.

From the DailyBeast.com

Trump was at another one of his feel good rallies, re-energizing before facing the constant storm (Stormy) of scandals facing him, his family, his lawyers, and his administration. It has become a daily event. Yesterday it was the leak by his own attorneys of the 49 questions Special Counsel Mueller would like to ask trump. That over shadowed the multiple reports of his Chief of Staff, John Kelly, calling him an idiot. (Duh!)

But one bit of his speech stands out when asking:

“Any Hispanics in the room?” Trump asked to relative silence. “Naw, not so many? That’s OK.”

He was met with boos. He should have asked “Why are there any Hispanics in the room?” Imagine being a Hispanic in the crowd and having to face the boos and the racism from his base. It would be deserving. In fact a good ass kicking would be deserving. Trump is a politically ignorant, racist, lying, a-hole, of a human being. It is just that simple. How 30% of Hispanics (or anyone that that matter) can still support this man is beyond me.

Hopefully the Hispanics will show up in November and tell trump and his racist base that this behavior will no longer be tolerated. Hopefully.

There are questions about whether Travis actually drew a line in the sand asking for volunteers to stay and defend the Alamo. According to stories, everyone crossed the line except for one.

As many in Texas know, Ted Cruz is for Ted Cruz. If Ted Cruz was at the Alamo and that line had been drawn he would have been the first to push to the end of the line and out the gate. Cruz has a history of running away from a fight. He is like the guy in high school that instigates a fight then is the first to run away from it. He truly is a Texas sized weasel.

When Trump said incredible nasty things about his father and wife, Cruz took to the cameras, made a big scene, called Trump a sniveling coward and a serial liar. You can watch that here. That was then but this is now. Cruz has recently written praises for trump’s capability to disrupt and upend the “status quo” in a Time Magazine article. No matter what Trump does, Cruz will support him…..until it doesn’t help him with his re-election. Trump can count on Ted to jump across that line and run when it benefits him.

Cruz talks about being “Tough as Texas”. He is anything but tough. He is a weasel. He is a coward. No one likes him. He is in it just for himself. If he can’t defend his own family, how can you expect him to defend yours?

FYI. Sanders won just 33% of the vote in the 2016 Texas primary.

Two Bernie Sanders’ candidates are in the runoff for Congress in Texas CD23 and CD7. Only one has raised money.

Rick Trevino is running for Congress in CD23. The seat is held by Will Hurd who has $1.8 Million in his campaign account. Rick has raised $24,000 with $4,000 Cash on Hand (COH) for a race that will require, at the very least, $2 million to be competitive. You have to thank Rick for running because it is a very difficult endeavor. If it was easy, everyone would be running. It isn’t. A candidate, especially one running for Congress, will spend countless hours on the phone asking for money. After raising money a candidate must hire staff to handle their field operations, media appearances, logistics, literature, and volunteer coordination including paying a hefty price for pizza. If a candidate cannot raise enough  money,  in relation to the office they are running for, they can’t buy pizza or anything else required to get your message out to the voters. Trevino faces Gina Ortiz Jones in the May 22 runoff. Jones has raised over $1 Million with $321,000 COH.

Laura Moser. On the other hand, Moser is another Bernie Sanders candidate but unlike many she has the ability to raise money. She has raised over $1 Million for the primary and has about $92,000 COH. Unlike many candidates endorsed by Bernie Sanders, Laura at least understands that until we change the laws regarding campaign finance a candidate must raise money, sometimes a lot of it, to run a successful campaign. Moser faces Lizzie Fletcher in the May 22 runoff. Fletcher has raised $1.3 Million with $391,000 COH.

Money itself does not mean strength in a candidate but little or no money is an indication of a candidate’s lack of understanding of the political reality running a campaign. As I have said in the past:

Sanders did a disservice to young people who wanted to become politically active after the 2016 election. Encouraging someone to run for office is easy. All you need is a few bucks and the time to put your name on the ballot. Unfortunately it is much harder to actually run for office, especially if you do not know what to do, you have no experience in doing it, and you have no ability or urge to raise the money to do it.

#NoPlaceButTexas. It’s a trump nickname “Little baby Briscoe”.

From the Texas Tribune

State Representative Briscoe Cain from Deer Park had a temper tantrum vowing legislation in retaliation to the walkouts of April 20th to honor students killed at Columbine High School. From the Star-Telegram:

One Texas lawmaker, Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, responded to the walkouts with a plans to draft law that will punish schools by making them return state funding if students participated in the gun control events. “…We will be seeking solutions to ensure they do not receive tax dollars for those students not in attendance,” Cain said in a press release.

I’ve said this before.

Take a look at this “deal” on the power to choose website, a site provided by the Public Utility Commission to provide a tool to compare electricity prices. It can be very deceiving.

Just as an example of how incredibly deceiving the Power to Choose website is, look at this rate provided by Gexa Energy. 6 cents, 3 cents, and 9.9 cents/kWh for 500/1000/2000 kWh used. This is called the “Smart Choice 1000” Sound like a great deal doesn’t it? This is why reading and understanding the Electricity Facts Label is important. Take a look at the EFL and see if you can make any sense out of it.  

The Power to Choose website isn’t your friend. It is deceiving.

Ken Lay Enron CEO April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006

I’m on the Nextdoor app and every now and then someone asks “I am about to change electricity providers. Who would you recommend?”. The answer isn’t easy. In fact it is impossible because it is extremely difficult to understand the hundreds of plans available to consumers. It’s difficult to understand how much you will actually pay. And it is difficult for someone with a good plan to recommend one because the price you pay is based upon your particular usage.

It gets old hearing all the recommendations from people who think they got a good deal because they probably just think they got a good deal and really didn’t. So before you ask for a recommendation, here are some points you should know. For a detailed report on electricity deregulation read The History of Electric Deregulation in Texas by R.A. Jake Dyer of Cities Aggregation Power Projects (CAPP). It’s actually very good.

1. Before deregulation. Prior to 2003 HL&P, Houston Lighting and Power,  provided electricity in the Houston area. We paid just under 8 cents/kWh. A consumer would sign up and pay their monthly bill until they no longer needed the service. The service was inexpensive, long term, and reliable. What more do you want? At the time Texas was ranked #4 in electricity affordability. Oklahoma and Louisiana was also competing for the #4 ranking.
2. After deregulation. In 1999 the Texas Legislature began the process of deregulation with promises of more competition and lower prices. In 2003 middlemen companies came on board. These middlemen traded electricity and passed the “savings” onto the consumers. They did NOT produce the electricity. Now Texas ranks #32 in electricity affordability with Oklahoma and Louisiana still competing for #4. Electricity plans are now complicated, almost impossible to get a good deal, and short term.
3. San Antonio. Some areas did not deregulate. They had the opportunity to opt in. San Antonio is one of those cities that did not opt in. They continue to have long term contracts at below 8 cents/kWh.
4. Deregulation stopped. In 2009 a Senator in East Texas filed a Bill that stopped deregulation in his district citing the failure of deregulation to fulfill its intended purpose, which was to provide lower rates to consumers. The bill passed.
5. Enron. Remember Enron? Enron lobbied for deregulation like they did in the California. California paid the price for their meddling. Enron eventually paid the price also, as well as their employees, some losing their entire retirement portfolio. (I met Ken Lay, Enron’s CEO in the elevator at the Texas Capital during the Enron scandal. I always wondered why he was there.)
6. The Power to Choose website. As part of deregulation the Public Utility Commission created the PowerToChoose.org website to help consumers compare the hundreds of plans available. The website is near worthless, but don’t take my word for it. According to the PUC Chairman: Donna Nelson, chairman of the Public Utility Commission, said Thursday at a public meeting. “They’ve [electricity resellers] got all these tricky little things in their prices, and whatever the fact sheets are called – the nutrition label – that makes it really difficult for customers.”  
7. Project 45730. The PUC took action and started Project 45730 which was literally titled “PROJECT TO EVALUATE THE POWER TO CHOOSE WEBSITE”. They solicited comments on how the website could be improved. They received 197 comments from individuals and organizations. Then the PUC took no action. The website is still overly complicated and is useless in comparing prices.
8. You just can’t pick and choose. Most companies require a contract, some for as long as 5 years. If by chance you found a cheaper plan, you will have to pay a fee to break your contract or wait till your contract ends and hope that new plan is still available.
9. Your plan may be a horrible plan for others. The rates are complicated and are based upon your specific usage. Its not easy to determine what plan would work for you or if your plan would work for others.

Our club, the Bay Area Democratic Movement heard from Sri Preston Kulkarni who is running for Congress in CD22 against Pete Olson. I was VERY impressed. 

CD22 contains a small part of the Bay Area, mostly west of I45. The club endorsed him in the primary. Residents of CD22 would be very lucky to have such a talented individual representing them in Congress.

Sri could useful from more fundraising but other than that, he has some great experience. He is young. He speaks 6 languages including Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese, Hebrew, and Russian. Following college, Sri was commissioned as a Foreign Service Officer by Secretary of State Colin Powell and served his country for 14 years, with overseas tours in Iraq, Israel, Russia, Taiwan, and Jamaica. In 2015, Sri accepted a Pearson Fellowship to serve as a foreign policy and defense advisor on Capitol Hill, assisting Senator Kirsten Gillibrand with her work on the Senate Armed Services Committee. (From his website)

What more could voters ask for in a candidate for Congress? Experience in Congress. Young. Exciting. Very well spoken. I would absolutely love to see a debate between Olson and Sri. I think he would give him a run for his PAC money. Sri is in a tough district but if all the stars line up and voters realize the talent of Sri Preston Kulkarni he would be a very valuable asset to the community.

Sri Preston Kulkarni. Visit his website at https://www.kulkarniforcongress.com. Oh did I say he was a teasip? Damn it.

Former Congressman Steve Stockman representing the Clear Lake area was convicted today on 23 felony counts. Stockman only served two terms, once in CD 9 and another in CD 36 separated by 16 years. He wasn’t a very good Congressman. In fact he is just like Trump. He is an asshole.

Stockman would had fit right into the Trump Administration. He invited Ted Nugent to a State of the Union Address with President Obama. He thought that bringing another asshole like Nugent was cute. It was funny to him.

When he learned to use twitter, he found a new way to be an asshole, again, much like trump. Here was one of this favorites:

That verdict puts Stockman — a firebrand conservative who served two nonconsecutive terms in the U.S. House before losing a 2014 challenge to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas — at risk of decades in federal prison. And in the immediate future, it sends him into federal custody, where he will remain pending sentencing in August. U.S. Marshals took him into custody shortly after the verdict was read, over the objections of his lawyers. The prosecution had warned that he might be a “flight risk,” Buckley explained.

That sound you hear is the sound of liberal tears as I cry……..with laughter. That’s mean. Isn’t it?

It’s not that hard to understand.

Take the House. Take the Senate. Then start moving in your specific direction. If you want immigration reform, gun reform, women’s rights, worker’s rights, restoration of our leadership in the world, restoration of a working Congress, etc, etc, then work towards November 6 and take the House and Senate.

Calling on our candidates to take on divisive issues and giving the Republican Party ammo to defend their seat will not help us win in November. As an example, demanding “medicare for all” or “Single Payer” at this point is not productive. How about advocating for health care for your sick child or health care for your loved one that has cancer. Instead of advocating for a specific solution that yells SOCIALISM, advocate for issues everyone can agree to. Everyone wants their children to be healthy and cured if they become sick, but many are scared to death of socialism or anything that sounds like socialism.

Single payer is just one of the many issues that needs to be resolved after we take over Congress. Until then we need to quit bitching to our candidates about every single issue that we are concerned about. We, as a party, understand what is screwed up in this country but nothing, absolutely NOTHING, will change until we change out Congress.

Restore Congress to a working body then manipulate this idiot of a president into signing legislation. Then focus on 2020. Until then, let’s quit bitching and continue working towards Nov 6.

November 6, 2018. Clean House.