saluditos del Austin

hola, fellow tumblewords bloggers:

I'm in Austin Texas, soon to return to El Paso. By some bizarre concatenation of events, on Thursday afternoon I became an alternate delegate for Barack Obama to the Texas Democratic Party convention. I'm not one to turn down a chance to observe history in the making, so I packed in 45 minutes and got on the bus. It might not have been Further and the Merry Pranksters, but let me tell you, these democrats were making very merry. The bus left El Paso at 7:00 pm. In the middle of the night we got stopped by a highway patrolman, probably a Republican or a racist, because he had us by the side of the road for at least 30 minutes. I think he was taken back by a bus sponsored by the Mexican American Democrats filled with black folks, Mexican Americans and others, all fronterizos and all wearing Obama shirts, and all proclaiming our allegiance to our candidate frequently and vociferously.

We finally got to Austin around 7:00 am. Of course there were hotel problems, and I didn't get a chance to take a bath. I gave myself a lick and a promise and changed from the red, white and blue hand-me-down pant suit I thought I would never wear when my mama gave it to me. I figured that was perfect for the busride, but I was not going to be seen in public in it. But I more than made up for the change into black and white by wearing a flag pin in the shape of the State of Texas, three Obama buttons, and waving a retro style Obama sign. Woo hoo.

Well, watching Democratic party politics put me in mind of Will Rogers' old saw about not being a member of any organized political party, i.e. he was a democrat. It was like watching several someones compete to herd chickens. The disheartening part was seeing what sore losers so many of the Clinton delegates were. For a minute I thought I had fallen into a room full of Shiites and Sunnis. The level of animosity and mistrust was frightening, especially since I would vote for a yellow dog this November rather than endure more years of the Republican junta (no offense to you bloggers who might be Republicans. Really, some of my best pals are Republicans. For that matter my sister is a Republican state senator over in New Mexico. But I am tired of the radical right dominating our courts, and have been horrified with the take over of the government by the executive branch. I want my Constitution back and I want it back soon.

So, now, in typically El Paso Democrat style, the return bus is leaving almost two hours late. So I thought I would steal a minute to say howdy from Austin. I can't wait to get back to the desert and the mountains.

abrazos to all

Donna