Concerned Citizens

The 2012 General Election is less than three months away and voters will be going to the polls to pick a president. Along with that big race are races for other legislative offices, including the US House. Texas has four new districts it needs to fill with representatives, with San Antonio picking up one of those seats. The districts were at the heart of redistricting battles after a partisan mapping process worked to maintain Republican strength, while faced with strong growth in Latino voters and increased urbanization in the state. Of course, those battles pushed the Texas primary season into the summer, later than we’ve ever had before. Now we’re through the primary season and on to the General Election. So how are the US House seats around Bexar County shaping up?

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Athletes are not the only ones who will be tweeting during the 2012 London Olympics. You can also follow the US Olympic Team and various sports such as USA Swimming, USA Diving, USA Archery and several other sports organizations through Twitter. These feeds will give you a more complete view of the team and the sports, including any official information about times or schedules. It’s a way for them to get the most information out about their athletes. I’ll add as many as I can find unless the page becomes overloaded. Then I may have to break out the team by various aspects. Read more…

As you know, I’ve been exploring how social media will play into the coverage of the 2012 London Olympics. So far, I’ve built pages to follow San Antonio Olympic athletes and official Olympic organizations. Since there are a lot of Texas athletes at the Olympics I decided to build a page to follow them and track their tweets from the Olympics. This will not include the San Antonio athletes. The entire point is to bring the Olympics closer to all of us and explores how social media will play into the experience. So far, it’s proving to be quite interesting and giving some very unique views over in London. So here are the Texas athletes I know of. I’ll update the page as I find more. Read more…

The Iowa Caucus day is finally here. The big question is who will survive and who will have to ask the hard questions about continuing forward. Current poll averages show Romney a little over a point ahead of Paul. Santorum has been surging lately, rising almost daily so he could be a surprise tonight. Regardless of what the polls say, it all boils down to who shows up at the caucus sites at 7 p.m. Unlike primary elections you can’t just stop in and vote when you want. There’s a real commitment to the vote, including sitting through all the speeches. As I said in a blog entry earlier today, Iowa is more about culling the field than picking a winner. I’ll be live blogging from this point forward as I see key things shaping up in the news feeds and Twitter streams, such as this interesting posting by Rick Santorum’s nephew telling people why not to vote for his uncle and to vote for Ron Paul. It’s going to be an interesting night. Read more…

Here’s a list of articles or blog postings I have found interesting from my review of subscriptions today – 12/29/2011. The news covers most of the things I follow including politics, local events, media information, and general interest. While I try to follow a lot of things, I probably miss some things. If you have something interesting add it in the comments section of this posting. If you have comments on some of the items feel free to drop them in the comments section. Just remember to follow the Guidelines. Read more…

Here’s a list of articles or blog postings I have found interesting from my review of subscriptions today – 12/27/2011. The news covers most of the things I follow including politics, local events, media information, and general interest. While I try to follow a lot of things, I probably miss some things. If you have something interesting add it in the comments section of this posting. If you have comments on some of the items feel free to drop them in the comments section. Just remember to follow the Guidelines. Read more…

I’ve restored my Events Calendar to hopefully provide a listing of political events, especially related to the 2011 Municipal elections. There’s so much going on this year it’s important for citizens to stay engaged when they can. I’ll try to stay abreast of all the events and post what I think would be significant for voter interest. This won’t be a place to advertise your campaign events but more for public forums such as candidate forums or city events. If you have an event you think should be listed send it through my contact form using Events as the topic. I can’t guarantee it will be listed based on my criteria. I don’t want to become a general clearinghouse for fundraisers and blockwalks.

Thursday I’m traveling to Austin with a friend to see a live performance of the hit NPR show “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” heard locally on Texas Public Radio’s KSTX at 1 p.m. on Saturdays. It’s a great show that pokes fun at current events every Saturday with both celebrity guests and listeners. Hosted by Peter Sagal along with noted radio journalist Carl Kasell, the show typically has three comedy panelists that compete throughout the show in a series of regular quizes. Usually a celebrity will join the show by phone to compete with the panelists. Okay, I think you get the picture by now. Well, there is a live performance scheduled Thursday night at Bass Concert Hall in Austin benefiting KUT, Austin’s public radio station. Read more…