LOCAL POLITICS

As Ann mentioned in her post, local elections are coming up and there are several " hot button issues " on the agenda. The one getting the most press and attention is the smoking ban. They (Onward Austin) want to ban smoking entirely. This has bar owners on 6th street and Red River street in an uproar. They swear up and down that this ordinance will kill their business and some of the smaller clubs will cease to exist in short shrift if the ban passes. Onward Austin poo-poohs this claim saying that the same cannot be said for New York and California. Who do you believe? We don't get out much anymore because we're old and that clubbing shit is for the younger set. But I can tell you, that when we were active in the club scene, if you couldn't smoke we went somewhere else that allowed it. Most folks we know have the same attitude, and if that attitude is reflective of most smokers, these club owners are in trouble.
They are also gun shy about ordinances involving their livlihood in general. A while back there was a tightening of the noise ordinance downtown brought about (by and large) by the residents of the overpriced condos and homes in the vicinity of the clubs. Keep in mind the city war cry of "music capitol of the world". For an industry purported to be the flagship of this town, they sure get shit on a lot lately. If the ban passes, I suggest the city adopt a new marketing motto : "music capitol of the world for two weeks in the spring when we make a shitload of money, after that, turn that shit down or we'll shut you down " because, I believe, that's what it boils down to. Capitol. $$$...
Then there's the city council elections...yawn...two of the candidates for place 3 have indentical degrees from the same school and eerily similar street cred, another is a small business owner and the other is an attorney. They have all been endorsed by the same organizations. I thought endorsing someone meant you picked one. Me thinks these organizations are practicing the tried and true art of covering their ass, so whoever ends up winning the seat won't pay them back in some "city councilly way" after the election. The same goes for place one and four. Almost all of them are at least partially funding their own campaign. Now while this is a common practice in all elections in this country, somewhat legitimized by saying they "want to get the message out", which I like to call by it's more accurate description " buying votes".
And then you have the weirdos. This time out, it's Jennifer Gale. He/She? claims to be a former marine, has no address listed and works as a temp. He/She has run for a variety of elected offices over the years and quite frankly is a freak. I say this because I saw him/her putting up signs on campus the other day, on the sidewalk, with multi colored chalk. With just over 152.00 in contributions and just under 23.00 cash on hand...you know where the chalk came from. Curiously, there is no Leslie, I guess he's waiting for the next mayoral election.
Then you have the whole Toll road thing...I thought tolls were a way to finance the building of a road, so why are they planning on tolling roads that have already been paid for by our tax dollars and built already? Money grab, that's why.
And then there's this house bill, HB16, that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills or emergency contraceptive pills on the basis of refusing to participate in an abortion. The first draft of this bill was so murky, that it's author, one Frank "the fetus" Corte, a rep from San Antonio, presented a slicker, trickier version that basically said the same thing. This one has everyone jumping around trying to pull their respective panties and boxers out of their ass. It further erodes a womans right to choose is a rallying cry. Plus the usual prolife ravings of the religious right, who insist that as soon as joe's sperm penetrates janes egg, wham! it's a person with rights.
As they went dervishly round and round about this, one Sarah Wheat ( of the national abortion rights action league ) pointed out that under the current provisions of the medical safety act of the health and safety code, only licensed doctors can fill prescriptions for RU-486 or perform abortions. She went on to say " The confusion appears to be that pharmacists are somehow actually involved in medical abortions" and further " RU-486 is not something you can get a prescription for". So...it appears that Frank wants legislation for something there are already laws on the books about...that doesn't involve pharmacists in the least. No...he's a religio-nutbag who wants to deny women the right to birth control.
Busted, you asshole.
And, when you get right down to it, it's all trickle down from Bushco. The legislation of choice, of morality, the money grab.
And just for the record, I'm with Ann on this perfume thing, in fact, I see a grass roots campaign targeting perfume abusers in Austin coming soon. I promise.