B and B

Schmitt: The 'Theory of Change' Primary

Listening to and reading everyday political commentary, from newspapers to blogs to even such allegedly respectable sources as NPR and PBS' Newshour, I have frequently despaired at the lack of interesting insights from the talking heads. 

But then I saw this article at The American Prospect from Mark Schmitt -- "The 'Theory of Change' Primary" -- and my mood brightened.  And my 'undecided' status in the Dem primary wavered.

Mayor Hardberger and SAWS take a stand against rampant development over the Edwards Aquifer

San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger and the board of the San Antonio Water System took a stand against the rampant development of the Hill Country landscape earlier this week.  This is a decision that deserves wider recognition.

From the Express-News, Dec 5:

Taking a rare stand against a developer to protect a pristine watershed that drains into the Edwards Aquifer, trustees of the San Antonio Water System unanimously rejected an agreement Tuesday to provide water to a planned subdivision in the remote hills northwest of the city.

Baruch Properties wanted water for the Hills of Castle Rock, a 1,766-acre property near Texas 16 and Park Road 37 in Medina County. The nearest SAWS water main is 7.5 miles away.

Environmentalists and neighbors argued that SAWS water service would allow high-density development that otherwise is not likely to occur because of a lack of available water supplies.

High-density development, they said, would bring polluted runoff and downstream flooding to San Geronimo Creek and an on-site wastewater treatment plant whose effluent would be added to the creek that drains into the aquifer a few miles downstream.

“Density development in a sensitive zone simply is not a good thing for the citizens of San Antonio, for our city, for our neighbors or for our water,” said Mayor Phil Hardberger in explaining his motion to deny the request.

...

Hardberger said he recognized that to get a SAWS water main to the site, the developer made concessions such as scaling back from 3,500 homes to 2,700, but he said the city's policy should not be to diminish the harm but to do good.

He said the city's “irreversible mistakes” in planning over the aquifer's sensitive areas are on display by driving out Loop 1604 North and U.S. 281.

Later in the article, the developer suggests they can simply go the state agency (TCEQ) and leave San Antonio and SAWS out of the process entirely.  Given how the state government works, they would be likely to get their way via that route, so I am unsure how this battle is going to work out.

But I am happy to see that the city government of San Antonio is in no mood to encourage  destructive development of the Hill Country and the Edwards Aquifer.

Don't be putty in the GOPs hands

We progressives who are politically active appear to have an instinctive understanding, epsecially after witnessing the last decade, that the mainstream media is not our friend and cannot be trusted.  At least we have this understanding in theory. 

So why are so many of us so quick to regurgitate what they write when it is from anonymous sources in the administration critical of our political allies?

In the latest example, why does Steve Benen of The Carpetbagger Report, now a regular guest blogger at Talking Points Memo, raise aspersions about "Democratic leaders" based on a Washington Post article whose sources are anonymous members of the executive branch -- an executive branch run by Bush that has been stacked with ultra-partisan GOP loyalists over the last seven years.

I'm hesitant to jump to conclusions, but I think there are a few lawmakers, including some Democratic leaders, who might want to comment on torture-policy briefings they received way back in 2002.

Benen goes on to recite a quote -- attributed in the article to former Rep. Porter Goss, famous as a partisan attack dog for the GOP -- but he neglects to tell us it is from Goss, and instead attributes it to anonymous "officials."

Not only did these lawmakers generally fail to raise objections, officials at the briefings "described the reaction as mostly quiet acquiescence, if not outright support."

I have no clue whether the Post article is true or false, but given the reliability of anonymously-sourced reports in recent years, there is no reason to even give any presumption of truth to what these anonymous administration officials say.

Other progressive bloggers, including a guest blogger at Atrios' Eschaton, are also too quick to jump on this bandwagon.

If we turn on our own this quickly and easily, we are putty in the GOPs hands. 

Legendary conguero Patato passed away earlier this week

Conga King, Carlos "Patato" Valdes, has died, at the age of 81.  A consolation is that we still have his music.  A couple samples below, via YouTube:  one solo and one with the Tito Puente Latin Jazz Ensemble from 1981.

From the New York Times:

Known for his fluid, improvisatory melodies, Mr. Valdés tuned his drums tightly to produce clear, precise tones, and he popularized the playing of multiple conga drums; when he began his career, conga players, or congueros, typically used only one or two drums, but Mr. Valdés played three, four or more to allow a wider range of tones.

He is also associated with using a key to tune the congas instead of heating the skins with a flame. Latin Percussion, the leading Latin drum company, makes a Patato line of conga drums.

Mr. Valdés had an influential role in expanding the rumba form. His 1968 album “Patato & Totico,” recorded with Eugenio (Totico) Arango, a singer who was a boyhood friend from Havana, was particularly inventive. Instead of sticking to the usual format of drums and vocals, the album added several other instruments played by star musicians like Israel (Cachao) López on bass and Arsenio Rodríguez on tres, a six-string Cuban guitar. It is said to be Mr. Rodríguez’s last recording session, and its innovations had a lasting effect on Latin jazz.

“I had these ideas and wanted to advance them through jazz,” Mr. Valdés said in an interview with Latin Beat magazine in 1997. “I wanted something progressive.”

He was also a flamboyant performer who knew how to work a crowd. One of his performance hallmarks was jumping atop his drums and dancing while keeping the beat. In the 1956 film “And God Created Woman,” he is briefly seen teaching Brigitte Bardot to dance the mambo.

He is survived by his wife, Julia; two daughters, Yvonne and Regla; and two grandchildren, Jose Valdes and Mayra Garcia.

Mr. Valdés never stopped touring, recently working with his group the Conga Kings, which also includes Giovanni Hidalgo and Candido Camero, a fellow octogenarian.