CONGRATULATIONS President-Elect BARACK OBAMA !!!

Bob Schieffer's Mother Was Right!

Texas native, Bob Schieffer, ended the last of the 2008 presidential debates with this quotation from his mother, "Go vote now. It will make you feel big and strong."

I just left my early voting location and that's exactly how I feel. I didn't have to wait in line, but there was a steady stream of voters in and out of the library and the voting booths stayed full. It's an exhilarating feeling to exercise the rights that my people fought so hard for. It is both humbling and empowering. I hope I never lose this feeling.

You can vote early through October 31, 2008. For a list of early voting locations click here.

Election day is November 4, 2008.

BE A PART OF THE PROCESS!!!

Yes We Can Have the Audacity to Hope that Our Faithful Fathers Put Country First! (or something like that)

No matter how politically conscious I think I am, I am always brought down a peg or two when I step up to the election booth. I start out strong. President/VP, check. U.S. Senator, check. U.S. Congressman (or woman), check. State Representative, check. Then I discover that there are not less than 10 local/state elections that I knew nothing about. Never heard of the offices; never heard of the candidates; don’t know what they are supposed to do in office.

I am trying to do better this year, but learning about all the myriad political offices up for grabs in my state is a daunting task. Fortunately, the Dallas Morning News website makes it easier. I found this lovely page that allows you to enter your address and it shows you all the races for your voting district. It even allows you to compare the positions of the candidates running in each race. Some of the information is incomplete but it is a wonderful place to start your research if you are so inclined.

Tip: Get started soon. If memory serves me correctly, there will be 27 races on the ballot November 4th.

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

At least, that’s the way I’ve been feeling for the last two weeks. Every morning, I wake up to news stories on the radio predicting the collapse of the U.S. economy and life as we know it. Pretty soon, we’ll be rationing rice and rioting in the streets. I hope and pray that what I just typed is pure hyperbole and nothing more, but the last two weeks have me on edge largely because it’s so hard to understand what’s going on. What does it mean when someone says the market lost $850 billion dollars in a single day? How do you interpret the ups and downs of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and what is the Dow Jones Industrial Average anyway? Thankfully, I have found an outstanding resource to educate myself on the nation’s economic crisis. NPR’s money blog is dedicated to providing up to the minute coverage of the nation’s market woes in straight-talk English for those of us who didn’t graduate from the Wharton School of Business or receive doctorates in economics from [insert fancy school name here].

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money

Be sure to check out the September archives section because what you see on the home page is just the tip of the iceberg. There are links to articles from various newspapers and magazines, podcasts from NPR programs, and answers to questions posed by regular Joes and Janes like you and me.

And since this blog is about all-things Dallas, here’s a link to a story on Mayor Leppert’s speech to the Dallas Regional Chamber addressing how Dallas will weather this financial storm (courtesy of Dallas Morning News).

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/100108dnmetleppertspeech.c928393b.html

Dallas City Hall Blog

The 2008 presidential election (all elections really) makes me want to be more politically aware, not just nationally but locally as well. Watching political pundits on TV and listening to water cooler chat at work have reminded me that democracy works best when citizens are engaged and informed, but becoming engaged and informed is easier said than done.

I find the evening news does me more harm than good. I have to wade through 12 depressing minutes of killing, raping, and pillaging before I get 2 minutes of coverage on the goings-on at City Hall. Reading the newspaper everyday takes a lot of time (maybe I’m a slow reader?). I envy the people who read the paper everyday as I assume they have some sort of job that allows them to take three hours to read the paper from cover to cover each day. Don’t get me started on the relentless City Council meetings that take place every Wednesday. I still haven’t figured out how regular people are able to take time off work to attend Council meetings. Council meetings start at 9am and last all day. All this might leave me feeling defeated and helpless if it were not for a little gem I discovered a few months ago on http://www.dallasnews.com/ : the Dallas City Hall Blog. http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/

The Dallas City Hall Blog is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to keep up with the votes and controversy going down at City Hall each day. There is news of appointments and resignations; budget crises; pet projects of Council members, Mayor Leppert, and City Manager Mary Suhm; but my favorite feature is the live blogging that takes place all day every Wednesday from the “peanut gallery” of Dallas City Council meetings. Dallas Morning News staff sit through those long meetings and give a blow-by-blow account of who said what to whom and why. In 15 minutes (or less) I can learn everything newsworthy that transpired during a City Council Meeting without having to sit through all eight hours of it or suffer through watching it on TWC public access.

Because of Dallas City Hall Blog, I can speak with confidence about matters such as Jenny the Elephant; Industrial Boulevard, Ross Avenue, and César Chavez; and whether Angela Hunt is secretly gearing up to challenge Mayor Leppert during re-election. As the name implies, Dallas City Hall Blog is concerned only with local news. If you want national news, I’m sure CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and the behemoth that is Google News are happy to oblige.


I’ll let you in on a little secret: I work at City Hall (location and department are top secret) and I start and end each work day by reading the Dallas City Hall Blog. It’s my little way of staying ahead of the game.