Al Edwards is toast. A very short report from Meyerland Democrats mtg

[johncoby2]

Thank God for Al Edwards 27 years of service in Austin, and it seems very clear who ever takes his place, Al Bennett or Boris Miles, will do just fine.

The Democrats in the district have a very hard choice to make. Al Bennett is sharp, articulate, intelligent. Boris Miles is sharp, articulate, intelligent. Who to choose?

Maybe the easier question to answer is who NOT to choose? Al Edwards should win this contest hands down.

(I told you it was a short report.)

[acmejack]

1. But, but...

He has provided us with so much humorous material over the years John! That noble statue which looked so suspiciously like himself, the anti , the list is long and undistinguished....

[sonias]

2. Funny or not, it's time for Al to move on

I'll give Al Edwards one thing - he's not as bad as Ron Wilson was. So glad to see there are good people willing to take the challenge and run against him. We're going to have a good primary folks, all over Texas.

Let's clean up our House!

Sonia

[WestHoustonDem]

3. Stephanie Miller refers to Edwards as

Squeezy McFeelPants. LOL. The funny thing is, she assumes he's a Repug. Well I guess he might as well be.

[Smarty Pants Liberal]

4. Well you know who I'm supporting,

but you're right, I think Al Bennett and Borris Miles are fine candidates and the district would be well served if either were elected.

I have been questioned repeatedly about why I support Borris by a rabid group of single issue voters or non voters. My impression is that they really don't care, they'd just like to call me on the carpet for not agreeing with them.

So here it is...when I was in high school two of my friends and I broke the law. The principal told my parents that I was going to have to attend a school similar to HISD's CEP and participate in a drug abuse program. My father wouldn't hear of it and successfully fought to keep me out of the school and drug abuse program because he feared that I would forge relationships with the students who REALLY needed to attend the school and drug abuse program. The two friends? Their parents thought they needed tough love. They both dropped out of high school.

As a former law enforcement officer, Borris knows that they spend more time on the smaller fish than the big fish because of the laws in place today. He has been visiting a jail in Houston every Wednesday for three years to help rehabilitate first time offenders and wants to see first time offenders separated from the hardened criminals.

If you'd like to read about some progress that was made last year with the new Jim Crow laws but vetoed by Perry, see this “Grits for Breakfast” post at http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2005/06/terrible-news-perry-vetoes-stronger.html

When I hear about all of the candidates' years in the district I know that Borris was born and raised in the district and he truly understands how the new Jim Crow laws are affecting its residents. Remember, when we went to high school, he didn't have the boots to pull himself up by his boot straps. It seems like crack cocaine took over the district overnight, right around the time that we graduated. The problem is not so bad now but crystal meth is becoming very popular now. Al Bennett moved to the district when he began attending college and the incumbent? Well, let's just say that if one of his bills were in place and I were an adult when I broke the law, I wouldn't have the fingers to type this post.

[PDittie]

5. Too bad we can't recommend posts for the Greatest page

because this one deserves it.

I feel similarly about Al Bennett and Borris Miles as you have posted, and Borris has earned my support for a similar reason as Chris Bell has: he took on the fight when everyone around him said it was hopeless.

And once I support those kinds of fighters, I don't quit on them.

When I left the Meyerland Dems meeting last night where Bell and Murff and Henley and Edwards and Bennett and Miles all spoke, someone had papered windshields with that "Record Miles Long" attack piece on Borris.

I wonder who's doing that?

[Smarty Pants Liberal]

8. The "New Jim Crow Laws"

Thanks Pdiddie,

I was in a hurry this morning and didn't have time to explain the “new Jim Crow” laws. For anyone who would like to accuse ME of not being Progressive because their background check on my favorite candidate hasn't stirred me, well I'd like to know what that person's definition of Progressive is. Borris said it best last night, “I don't need this job, the district needs ME!” I know that Borris hasn't forgotten what it was like to be without that pair of boots to pull himself up by the boot straps and I also know that he hasn't changed a bit since high school. He's not going to abstain from voting on bills that will help his community and he's not going to play nicey nice when he gets to the House because he's afraid he might not be reelected, he's going to get the job done.

And regarding the papered windshields, I know who did it and I have to say I'm disappointed. One of my friends saw the overzealous Bennett supporter in the parking lot.

From Drug Policy Alliance...

Although African Americans comprise only 12.2 percent of the population and 13 percent of drug users, they make up 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses causing critics to call the war on drugs the "New Jim Crow." The higher arrest rates for African Americans and Latinos do not reflect a higher abuse rate in these communities but rather a law enforcement emphasis on inner city areas where drug use and sales are more likely to take place in open-air drug markets where treatment resources are scarce.

Once arrested, people of color are treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than whites. The best-known example of the inequality in sentencing is the disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentences. Crack and powder cocaine have the same active ingredient, but crack is marketed in less expensive quantities and in lower income communities of color. A five gram sale of crack cocaine receives a five-year federal mandatory minimum sentence, while an offender must sell 500 grams of powder cocaine to get the same sentence. In 1986, before the enactment of federal mandatory minimum sentencing for crack cocaine offenses, the average federal drug sentence for African Americans was 11 percent higher than for whites. Four years later, the average federal drug sentence for African Americans was 49 percent higher.

Another explanation for the disparate effects on people of color is racial profiling. Racial profiling is the law enforcement practice of substituting skin color for evidence as grounds for suspicion. The pervasiveness of racial profiling in traffic stops has led many to dub the practice "DWB" - Driving While Black or Brown. President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have spoken out against racial profiling and promised to study the problem.

Once released from prison, felony disenfranchisement laws often perpetuate the disparate effects impacting citizens of color. 1.4 million African American men have permanently lost their right to vote because of a felony conviction even though their sentences have been served. This rate of disenfranchisement is seven times the national average.

The racial disparities in drug arrests and convictions have had a devastating effect on families. Of the 1.5 million minor children who had a parent incarcerated in 1999, African American children were nearly nine times more likely to have a parent incarcerated than white children and Latino children were three times more likely to have a parent incarcerated than white children.

The racial inequalities of the war on drugs also disproportionately affect pregnant women of color. Despite similar or equal rates of illegal drug use during pregnancy, African American women are ten times more likely to be reported to child welfare agencies for prenatal drug use. In a recent Supreme Court case, Ferguson vs. the City of Charleston, the practice of drug testing pregnant women without their consent and prosecuting the mothers for "distributing an illegal substance" to an unborn child through the umbilical cord was challenged under the Fourth Amendment right to privacy. Out of the 30 women who were arrested at the South Carolina hospital,29 were African American. The one white woman arrested was married to a Black man - a fact noted on her medical record.

The devastating health consequences of the war on drugs are more dramatic in communities of color. According to the Centers for Disease Control, African Americans account for 37 percent of all AIDS cases and 41 percent of those cases are injection-related. Latinos account for 19.2 percent of all AIDS cases and more than 44 percent of those cases are injection-related. Yet African Americans only comprise 12.2 percent of the population and Latinos comprise only 11.9 percent of the population. Despite the proven success of needle exchange programs in reducing the spread of HIV, AIDS, and Hepatitis C, most states do not allow them to operate legally.

[derby378]

6. We'll never watch cheerleaders again without thinking of Al Edwards

Having said that, good riddance to him.

[art3]

7. Bennett Rocked

yes it was cool. bennett rocked. I was at the post meyerland dems party-and boy did bennett rack in the votes. there must have been 10 folks waiting to talk to him and toss the other candidates signs from their lawns!