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Friday, June 30, 2006
Save the Voting Rights Act
President Lyndon B. Johnson, from Texas, was right to promote the initial passage of the Voting Rights Act and succeeding presidents, including Ronald Reagan, have been right to maintain it.
The current Republican Party power grabbers in Washington are trying to kill the Voting Rights Act, so that they will be able to attack the voting rights of minority citizens with impunity. Their blockage of Voting Rights Act renewal is an insult to history and a slap in the face to Latino, African-American, and all other racial minority citizens. It is intolerable.
posted by snarko! at 10:25 AM
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Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Statement on US Supreme Court Redistricting Verdict
Today the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the Republican Party's transparent attempt to protect Republican Congressman Henry Bonilla by decreasing the Latino population in Bonilla's 23rd Congressional District. The Court held that the redrawing of District 23 violated the voting rights of the district's Latino population under the Voting Rights Act. The justices' analysis of voting trends showed conclusively that a clear majority of Latino voters do not support Bonilla, and that the DeLay redistricting plan had removed a large chunk of Latino voters from the district in order to protect Bonilla from the political threat to his incumbency represented by the growing Latino voting strength in the district.
In redrawing District 23, the Republican Party, masquerading as the Texas Legislature, callously diluted Latino voting strength in order to protect a Republican Congressman. Now the federal courts will redraw the district and neighboring districts in order to redress this injustice. If the Republican Party and Henry Bonilla wish to retain Bonilla's seat in the U.S. House, they are going to have to convince the voters to re-elect him rather than drawing those voters out of the district.
The Voting Rights Act made it possible for the U.S. Supreme Court to redress the injustice done in South Texas. This decision demonstrates the importance of the Voting Rights Act to keep our society on the road to equal access and equal opportunity. President Lyndon B. Johnson, from Texas, was right to promote the initial passage of the Voting Rights Act and succeeding presidents, including Ronald Reagan, have been right to maintain it. The current Republican Party power grabbers in Washington are trying to kill the Voting Rights Act, so that they will be able to attack the voting rights of minority citizens with impunity. Their blockage of Voting Rights Act renewal is an insult to history and a slap in the face to Latino and African-American citizens. It is intolerable.
Today, incumbent Attorney General Greg Abbott issued his usual self-congratulatory press release in the wake of this decision. If I were him I would not be proud of his Republican buddies' violations of the Voting Rights Act. I am certain Abbott will now go into court and try to delay the court from remedying the violation. This is the same Greg Abbott who has been indicting minority citizens on questionable charges of "voter fraud" in the continuing perpetration of Republican Party voter suppression tactics. All the more reason Texans need an Attorney General who will promote instead of suppress the voting rights of all Texas citizens.
posted by snarko! at 2:28 PM
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Thursday, June 22, 2006
RBVO WhistleStop Report from Cold Spring
[ audio post ]
Live report from Rachel Barrios-Van Os--wife, rights activist, and "Jill-of-all-trades" for the campaign on tour with attorney general candidate David, on a great day for democracy and the enthusiasm of Texans everywhere to take back Texas and take it to the People.
posted by snarko! at 1:58 PM
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DVO WhistleStop Report from Day Three
[ audio post ]
Live report from the David Van Os WhistleStop Tour of Southeast Texas. Tour through Angelina, Trinity, Polk, San Jancinto counties, with a special shout out to the Courthouse WhistleStop Cafe. ;)
posted by snarko! at 1:44 PM
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DVO Whistlestop Report from Day Two
[ audio post ]
David Van Os summary of travels through Orange, Newton, Jasper, Sabine, and San Augustine Counties. Historical remarks about Lyndon B. Johnston; home owner insurance, and hurricane Rita.
posted by snarko! at 12:03 PM
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Wednesday, June 21, 2006
DVO WhistleStop Report from Orange County
[ audio post ]
David Van Os live WhistleStop report on travels through Kountz and Beaumont. Remarks on radio interview with Jack Pieper of KLVI and the Acapulco Grill.
posted by snarko! at 8:11 AM
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
DVO WhistleStop Report from Liberty
[ audio post ]
Candidate for Attorney General of Texas David Van Os reports from outside of Liberty on the warm welcoming committee and radio interview with KTSN FM 99.9.
posted by snarko! at 2:55 PM
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DVO WhistleStop Report from Anahuac
[ audio post ]
David Van Os, candidate for Texas Attorney General, reporting live from Chambers County Courthouse, Anahuac, on the Southeast Whistlestop tour.
posted by snarko! at 1:16 PM
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Monday, June 12, 2006
Transcript: Democratic State Convention Speech
WATCH VIDEO >>
[ Jim Maddox, former Texas Attorney General introduced David Van Os as a, "A Harry Truman type give 'em hell type Democrat!" ]
I am David Van Os and I'm looking forward to being sworn in as your people's Lawyer next January. I've got a message...I've got a message for the big oil companies and the insurance monopolists and the utility barons and all the other robber barons that are praying and pillaging on the people of this state: You better go ahead and spend every penny of your billions of dollars to try to beat me in this election because, when I get sworn in, I'm coming after you!
Think back. Think back around 10 years ago. Take your memories back to around 1996. We were all looking forward to a bridge to a new century and the new millennium. At that time, it looked like it was going to be a pretty good century. Well, something got in the way. A bunch of gangsters stole an election and took over the country and what they've been doing for the last 5 and a half years...they've been showing us that they want to wipe out constitutional checks and balances. They want to abolish the rule of law. They want to extinguish the rights and liberties of the people and they've turned the country over to the corporate robber barons. And you know what? They didn't come from here and when they went to Washington they left their junior partner gangsters in charge in Austin. What that means is that we here in Texas...we here in Texas are the ones that have to dig that evil up by it's roots because no where else can it be dug up and eradicated they way it's got to done. We Texans...we Texans have a moral responsibility to our fellow Americans in 49 other states to take care of it right here (inaudible because the crowd was going wild).
I've got a message also to the representatives of the embedded corporate media. Keep writing...you keep writing newspaper stories making fun of our democratic candidates talking about how the...you keep saying the Democratic party doesn't have candidates and all that kind of stuff. How dare you make fun of citizens who are fulfilling the highest obligation and most noble duty in democracy? Our Democratic party, we are all the heirs...we are all the heirs of the great democrats of the past. We are all the heirs of the founder of our party, Thomas Jefferson the author of the Declaration of Independence. We are all heirs of Andy Jackson. We are all heirs of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. We are all heirs of Ralph Yarborough. You know, Ralph Yarborough went around the state saying, "Put the damn on the lower shelf so the little people can reach it." Well, hell! The damn is so high up now the little people can't even see it. We have got to put it back down because the Democratic Party is the party of the people...inaudible...and this Democratic Party is going to take this country back.
Your friends and neighbors...your friends and neighbors...your good neighbors and friends who have been voting Republican are not the enemy folks. They are the victims. The enemies are the ruthless political hustlers who've been tricking them and conning them out of their votes. And, it is our duty to lead the people of this state to make sure that we take it back from those power grabbers who use it for nothing but personal gain and restore it to the people of this state. It is an historic duty. It is a moral obligation. And, there is no tomorrow. There is no wait for next year. There is no rebuilding, keep your powder dry or any of that kind of nonsense. It's now! We've got to do it now. Right now. inaudible Right now 2006. inaudible
You have a magnificent...you have a magnificent Democratic ticket for your statewide candidates because they're all from the grassroots. None of them were picked from up above by kingmakers or influence peddlers or would be power brokers. They are all grassroots Democrats. They're all fighting Democrats. And, they're all doing this because they want to take a stand and fight back and put the state back into the hands of the people. Our message, all of us together...our message to the people of this state is, "We're taking a stand. Join us in this fight! Join us in this fight to return this state to the people who own it. Put it back in the hands of the people of the state. It does not belong to the CEOs of the insurance companies and the oil executives and the utility barons. It belongs to the people. It belongs to all of the people of this state. The people you represent here as delegates and this year we are going to take it back. Thank you all very much.
posted by snarko! at 5:41 PM
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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Note on the Texas Democratic Party Chair Election
I am neutral in the Texas Democratic State Party Chair race.
I have known Boyd Richie, Glen Maxey, and Charlie Urbina Jones each for a long time. Any one of them will be a step forward for the party in comparison with the past.
I am offended by the demonizing that is going on of the other candidates by some of the supporters of each candidate. All three of these candidates are good persons and good Democrats. Each one has his own and different strengths and weaknesses, and each one's strengths outweigh his weaknesses.
I'm not a delegate at the state convention and thus do not have a vote in the election of the new party chair. The election belongs to the voting delegates; meeting in convention assembled they are the supreme governing authority of the state party. I trust the wisdom of the delegates to make the best choice as they see it, and I am ready to work with whichever candidate they choose, for victory in November 2006 to wrest the robber barons out of their control of Texas and return it to the people.
posted by snarko! at 11:49 AM
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Dump the Corporate Pump
[audio post ]
If Connecticut and California can do it, so can Texas!
A couple of weeks ago the Connecticut Attorney General initiated an investigation of major oil companies' gasoline pricing tactics. Now the California Attorney General has also launched an investigation, publicly calling the outrageously high gasoline prices Californians are paying, "legal thievery."
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer also points out that when crude oil prices rose by 14 percent the refiners' profit margins increased by 130 percent -- a 900% disproportion. "Their claim is 'Oh, we're just passing along the world crude oil increase.' That's clearly not true," said Lockyer.
Why should the people of Connecticut and California get representation and not the people of Texas? When in blazes is somebody going to get up and fight the giant oil monopolies on behalf of the people of Texas?
More specifically, when is Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott going to perform his Constitutional duty to the people of Texas and take legal action on their behalf to protect them from getting pillaged and preyed upon by corporate thieves? We all know the answer to that question: NEVER.
By January of 2006 Abbott had raised 5.7 million dollars for his re-election campaign against me. I'm sure he's added another million by now. His money comes from the corporate and legal elite who love the smell of money a lot more than they love your democracy, and whose campaign contributions are nothing more than legalized protection money to make sure the State of Texas looks the other way while the 21st century robber barons continue their rampages.
Well I have got some news for the robber barons and their man Greg Abbott. The jig is up. Their money won't be enough because the people have had enough.
Let me restate my warning to Big Oil: You had better spend every penny you can to try to beat me in this year's election, because as soon as I get sworn in as the next Attorney General of Texas in January 2007, "I'm coming after you."
Good people of Texas, join me in this fight! Fight 'em till hell freezes over! Then fight 'em on the ice!
posted by snarko! at 6:36 PM
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