kqueen blogs under the moniker "Perry's State" and has entered "someone else will take care of that" from April 26th. The article can be summarized as a piece that vaguely touches on the social problems of homelessness and mental illness. The piece is a compilations of some statistics, anecdotal situations, and observations regarding the two topics and again, does not differentiate nor combine the two topics into a blatant point.
The article starts off with common-knowledge statistics about how awful Texas, ranking near the bottom consistently. However, Texas is a low-tax, low-services state, so that kinda goes hand-in-hand. However, if we consider the average spending of $165-360/person in the highest states, we still have to remember that $360/person is shoveling sand at the tide regarding health care costs. My point is that nationally mentally health care is underfunded.
kqueen then goes on to discuss 2 incidents in which mentally ill people died. Herbert Babeley was a paranoid schizophrenic who was reported to have been off his medication. Babeley was shot and killed by APD officers when he brandished and fired a shotgun at the officers. kqueen then quotes the head of the TCRP as having said "no deescalation techniques were used." Harrington was not present at the shooting, so how does he know that no de-escalation techniques were not used, and who is to say that any de-escalation techniques were needed? Maybe APD showed up to the scene, Babelay was calm and showed no threat until he stepped out blasting. Consider this: if Babeley had no documented mental health illness, would this even be an issue? I personally find firing a gun at an officer inexcuseable, sober, intoxicated, mentally healthy or not. Babeley fired a gun at the cops, he got shot and killed. Hiding behing "he's mentally ill" doesn't excuse Babeley's actions, period.
Consider Sophia King. Need reference? Here. Mrs. King had a long standing mental health history and a 118-page rap sheet with APD. One day, she went after the apartment maintenence person with a knife. APD officers warned her multiple times to put the knife down. She refused to put the knife down, went after the innocent bystander and was shot and killed. The situation is tragic but if I had to judge between burying a maintenence man just doing a job and a mentally ill person trying to kill another person, sorry mentally ill person you lose. Consider Babeley vs. the APD officers. Sorry Babeley, better you than those cops.
Case in point - Brandon Daniels. Brandon Daniels killed APD SPO Jaime Padron. Padron was dispatched to Walmart for a person acting strange. On arrival, Daniels was not moving. Upon Padron approaching Daniels, Daniels surprised Padron and essentially executed him. Officer Padron had no chance and now he is dead. Daniels is reported to be bipolar and have been under the influence of bath salts. Even still, neither of those make the death of Padron excuseable. I hope Daniels gets the death penalty, even if he is mentally ill. My opinion. I'm not saying no lienency for the mentally ill, just not in the cases of innocent people getting killed because of them.
Let's now discuss Reginald Demps. Demps had a long history of schizophrenia and had made multiple attempts to seek help. From my long and very experienced tenure, Demps seems to have pursued every avenue available to him, from going to Austin State Hospital, unfortunately being turned away, and a local emergency room, and yet still taking his own life. The author then states that Demps had been evaluated and "with no major signs of threat" was discharged from the emergency room where he offed himself shortly after. As awful as Demps taking his own life is, there is only so much "the system" can do. If a person with a mental health history has been observed for several hours, is sober, denies any desire to kill or hurt themselves or anyone else, how can any health care provider know Demps would have gone and hung himself after? People aren't fucking mind readers.
kqueen's 3rd paragraph is where things start to really go off the rails for me. kqueen states JFK was responsible for the breakdown of the mental healthcare system in this country. I have to argue that kqueen doesn't know their facts at this point. JFK's profoundly progressive New Frontier legislative agenda did more for poor, uninsured and the needy than any other president in the 20th or 21st century. LBJ continued that same trend. If kqueen really wants to know who to blame for the dismantling of "the system" for mental healthcare, take a look at Reagan. Supply side economics slashed government health care programs for national defense spending.
Continuing on, kqueen states "there is no place in Austin dedicated to assessing the medical needs," taking us away from the original topic of homelessness vs. mental health. Now we are debating medical needs too? Giving the author the benefit of doubt, I assume they mean there is no place to be mentally assessed. Well, kqueen is wrong on that point.
Please excuse any further punctuation issues - my keyboard is freaking out on me.
Psychiatric Emergency Services PES is at 56 East Avenue. Furthermore, APD CIT Crisis Intervention Team are officers who are trained in mental health situations and can commit patients if need be. Then, there is ASH, Austin Lakes, and Shoal Creek that can offer assessment and treatment. kqueen also states "A majority of people are not provided the proper care, including medicine and follow up care." kqueen needs to understand that short of holding hands or tying people down, these people ARE afforded follow up care; the patients just choose to not follow up. Moreover, a lot of them CHOOSE to drink alcohol and further complicate their mental health. I also have to mention the irony in a medication which name i cannot remember that is used to treat depression also can cause suicidal feelings... So even if we provide people with care, the care they recieve might cause them to kill themselves.
"We have found ourselves in a pressing situation where police find it easier to take a person to jail, instead of getting people the help they need" is a ridiculous statement. Police officers might take a person with mental illness to jail if they are intoxicated to sober up, but they don't take people to jail unless they have broken laws. If a person is having an acute mental health issue and have broken the law, they go to the hospital first. Believe me, I know. I am the person they call to take them to the hospital. Often times, the police officers won't even pursue charges for minor infractions.
"We need to help every person as if they were our family or friends, these people out suffering and somebody needs to step up; the state and/ or local government, along with the people within the community." This is the liberal hollow statement I so often hear yet never see anyone do anything about. First, these people's suffering might be lessened if they chose to abstain from alcohol. Alcohol and mental illness don't mix. So, maybe we should start by outlawing alcohol. Wait, we did that already and it didn't go so well. Second, even though it is my job, I probably do more for the homeless and mentally ill than anybody else. As soon as someone does more than I do, then they can have my attention and empathy. Lastly, the people of this community have done something - they haven't enacted laws against panhandling or homelessness. The city of Austin has ordinances but no laws. They have done something by not enacting legislation and being tolerant of the homeless population.
The major issues I have with the author's point is that while homelessness and mental illness often beget the other, the author fails to delineate each individually. Moreover, the author really never makes a solid point other than a liberal "somebody needs to do something." Lastly, kquees never really readdresses homelessness through the blog after the initial statement about the homeless. I would have found the piece more titillating if there was more substance than a typical liberal hollow call to action.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Blog Stage 7: Almost done, just like Lehmberg's career!
If you haven't heard, getting arrested for DWI while being involved in public office is the latest rage. 2 years ago, Capitol staffer Gabrielle Nestande struck Courtney Griffin with her car, killing Griffin. While unable to prove Nestande was intoxicated at the time, civil statues dictate a preponderance of the evidence and the evidence preponders Nestande to have been drunk. Who hits a 250lb human with their car and doesn't shit their pants at the moment of impact? I should know Griffin was 250lbs. I pronounced her dead. State Representative Naomi Gonzalez was arrested in mid March of this year with a BAC of 0.167, twice the legal limit. And now, Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was arrested for drunk driving.
Nestande ultimately received 180 days in jail and a 10 years probation. I feel that is exceedingly leinient for killing someone, be it manslaughter or otherwise. Gonzalez and Lehmberg have yet to be sentenced but both have acknowledged their guilt. Lehmberg has stated publicly that she will accept any punishment. Good for her.
However, Lehmberg also states she will not step down as Travis County DA. Lehmberg has worked for the DA since 1976, over 35 years. She no doubt has seen more than her fair share of felony DWI cases. I am also giving her the benefit of the doubt in assuming she is a pillar of the community and involved in several good causes, but I could be wrong. I have more imporant shit in my life than researching Lehmberg's PR record.
Here is my heartburn: Lehmberg, as an elected official, has betrayed the public's trust as a representative for abiding by the law. She clearly violated the law the public entrusted her to uphold. I understand she made a mistake. I cannot judge; I would most certainly be a hypocrit if I did pass judgment. However, I am old enough and smart enough to realize that 100 $100 cab rides is still cheaper than a DWI, plus I won't kill anyone.
Lehmberg might have to step down if Kerry O'Brien has his way. O'Brien is an administrative judge for the Texas Workforce Commision and former attorney general. O'Brien has filed a petition to remove Lehmberg under a little known and vague law about attorneys being intoxicated on or off duty. We shall see if O'Brien's measure works.
If Lehmberg would have hit or killed anyone else, would we even be having this conversation? Maybe not if we consider Nestande. The citizens of Austin are awful leinient on drunk drivers if you are politically connected. I appreciate Lehmberg admitting her guilt and apologizing. However, I find it unprofessional that she acted the way she did whilst in jail, name dropping Sheriff Greg Hamilton and winding up in a spit hood and the chill-the-fuck-out chair. Lastly, I find it pompous that she does not feel the need to resign from a position of public service she swore to uphold, then promptly putting the public she swore to protect in danger.
I am a public servant. If I did the same thing, I would be promptly fired. The reason would be conduct unbecoming of a public servant. End of story. Similarly, I think Ms. Lehmberg's story will be coming to an end soon. I seriously doubt she will be re-elected back to office.
Nestande ultimately received 180 days in jail and a 10 years probation. I feel that is exceedingly leinient for killing someone, be it manslaughter or otherwise. Gonzalez and Lehmberg have yet to be sentenced but both have acknowledged their guilt. Lehmberg has stated publicly that she will accept any punishment. Good for her.
However, Lehmberg also states she will not step down as Travis County DA. Lehmberg has worked for the DA since 1976, over 35 years. She no doubt has seen more than her fair share of felony DWI cases. I am also giving her the benefit of the doubt in assuming she is a pillar of the community and involved in several good causes, but I could be wrong. I have more imporant shit in my life than researching Lehmberg's PR record.
Here is my heartburn: Lehmberg, as an elected official, has betrayed the public's trust as a representative for abiding by the law. She clearly violated the law the public entrusted her to uphold. I understand she made a mistake. I cannot judge; I would most certainly be a hypocrit if I did pass judgment. However, I am old enough and smart enough to realize that 100 $100 cab rides is still cheaper than a DWI, plus I won't kill anyone.
Lehmberg might have to step down if Kerry O'Brien has his way. O'Brien is an administrative judge for the Texas Workforce Commision and former attorney general. O'Brien has filed a petition to remove Lehmberg under a little known and vague law about attorneys being intoxicated on or off duty. We shall see if O'Brien's measure works.
If Lehmberg would have hit or killed anyone else, would we even be having this conversation? Maybe not if we consider Nestande. The citizens of Austin are awful leinient on drunk drivers if you are politically connected. I appreciate Lehmberg admitting her guilt and apologizing. However, I find it unprofessional that she acted the way she did whilst in jail, name dropping Sheriff Greg Hamilton and winding up in a spit hood and the chill-the-fuck-out chair. Lastly, I find it pompous that she does not feel the need to resign from a position of public service she swore to uphold, then promptly putting the public she swore to protect in danger.
I am a public servant. If I did the same thing, I would be promptly fired. The reason would be conduct unbecoming of a public servant. End of story. Similarly, I think Ms. Lehmberg's story will be coming to an end soon. I seriously doubt she will be re-elected back to office.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Stage 6: Commentary on Peer's Post
Come and Take It's post "Dazzled by Promise of Rail, Austin Leaders Still Need to Persuade Public" from Feb 6th is the author's personal feelings mixed with some objective observations in response to a Texas WatchDog report on the running punchline that Austin MetroRail is. CTI's initial statement of the rail being "wildly ineffective" is absolutely agreeable from my perspective; I in fact have not had the joy of riding the rail as I live no where near its service area. CTI's observation of Leander residents who work downtown town are the ideal riders is pretty accurate, however a more concise statement would be anyone who lives, works, or habitates along the rail and uses the complimenting bus service would be the ideal riders. Sadly, this is still a very small number of riders.
CTI states one original intent of MetroRail was to help relieve congestion along IH35. Most folks I know would agree MetroRail has not helped this one billionth of a percent, give or take a few millionths. I further believe Austin taxpayers have not embraced or accepted any demonstrated need for light rail.
While I agree whole-heartedly with CTI on the first two paragraphs, I disagree that Austin has been well-meaning in its rail adventure. I do think that it is too early to tell if it will be Rail or Fail and I feel that Austin under-invested in the Rail expedition. One single line between Leander and downtown Austin with a few stops is wildly ineffective, logistically speaking. I feel an inclusion of more lines is necessary to tip the speculation from a "maybe this will work" to "this will be an investment for our transportation crises for the next one hundred years". I cite lines from Lakeway into downtown, service to F1 track (that area is going to explode with growth and the roads will not be able to manage the volume), and any other lines to enable other riders to embrace and use the system. If you follow this link, here is a future rendering of other lines. I hope these become reality. Texasbytrain.org is another website further expanding upon trainsportation.
I appreciate the attempt by Austin, however it is falling short. One commuter rail that serves a narrow segment is astronomically ludacris, financially speaking. With the continuing sprawl both with our city and the Dallas/Ft. Worth/Austin/San Antonio, I feel that if we are going to invest in rail, we need to go big. We should be taking our cues from the TVR in Spain and Japan's Bullet. Consider the impact that would have on IH35 traffic, especially with Red River weekend and holidays. One single line is MetroFail.
CTI states one original intent of MetroRail was to help relieve congestion along IH35. Most folks I know would agree MetroRail has not helped this one billionth of a percent, give or take a few millionths. I further believe Austin taxpayers have not embraced or accepted any demonstrated need for light rail.
While I agree whole-heartedly with CTI on the first two paragraphs, I disagree that Austin has been well-meaning in its rail adventure. I do think that it is too early to tell if it will be Rail or Fail and I feel that Austin under-invested in the Rail expedition. One single line between Leander and downtown Austin with a few stops is wildly ineffective, logistically speaking. I feel an inclusion of more lines is necessary to tip the speculation from a "maybe this will work" to "this will be an investment for our transportation crises for the next one hundred years". I cite lines from Lakeway into downtown, service to F1 track (that area is going to explode with growth and the roads will not be able to manage the volume), and any other lines to enable other riders to embrace and use the system. If you follow this link, here is a future rendering of other lines. I hope these become reality. Texasbytrain.org is another website further expanding upon trainsportation.
I appreciate the attempt by Austin, however it is falling short. One commuter rail that serves a narrow segment is astronomically ludacris, financially speaking. With the continuing sprawl both with our city and the Dallas/Ft. Worth/Austin/San Antonio, I feel that if we are going to invest in rail, we need to go big. We should be taking our cues from the TVR in Spain and Japan's Bullet. Consider the impact that would have on IH35 traffic, especially with Red River weekend and holidays. One single line is MetroFail.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
State Rep. Paul Workman, Hard at Work
I am a life-long Austinite. I remember as a kid playing along Barton Creek. I also remember when I was 19, a girl was murdered along Barton Creek and that was a turning point for me. My utopia was now descrated. Still, I enjoy the area. I lifeguarded at Barton Springs for more than half a decade. As construction began along the creek, we started noticing more and more algae blooms in the pool. All the morning polar bears would convene with coffee at water's edge and discuss the SOS ordinances and their fight to save Barton Springs. I can only imagine how much of a sludge pond the pool would be today if these folks hadn't been fighting the good fight.
State Representative Paul Workman has now filed bills into the legislature weakening environmental protection. Environmental protection has long been a hallmark of Austin politics. Former Mayor Gus Garcia once called Austin "a city within a park". Workman's bills will create a statewide, state-backed deregulation that should really be left to cities and their governances.
The Austin-American Statesman article discussing Workman's legislation includes increasing the area allowed on land tracts over the Edwards Aquifer (where we get our drinking water from) from 15-25% developed footprint to 45-50% - a potential 300% increase. The basic issue behind this development, albeit necessary to a degree, creates polluntants into our drinking source. Oil from cars, fertilizers from the artificial facades created from the wake of bull-dozing the natural habitats, and trash from us contaminate the aquifer. Other regulations would remove the city of Austin process for tree-removal, which currently mandates a city arborist for any tree greater than 19 inches. Lastly, Workman intends to limit the Save Our Springs Ordinance.
So, city tree ordinances began in the 1980's. The SOS alliance was formed in the early 90's and city of Austin voters approved the SOS ordinance. City of Austin voters created and have supported what they wanted for greater than 20 years. Let us examine Mr. Workman's background.
Mr. Workman has a long history in construction, as evidenced on his webpage. He is also a highly touted civic leader, being involved in Rotary. Aligned with his primary income, he has been a Board member for the Real Estate Council of Austin and National Director for the Association of General Contractors. Mr. Workman has a clear tutalege and loyalty to the industries that said legislation would benefit.
One question I have after reading Mr. Workman's bio is this: he took over his father's construction business in 1980. He moved to Austin in 1983 and began his construction business in 1991 "with no work and little money". My question is, what happened to his father's business? Did he ruin it? Did his brother run it into the ground? I'm curious to know...
It seems to me that Mr. Workman is clearly introducing self-serving legislation to benefit his peers and his own business at the expense of the environment. I am truly disappointed that Mr. Workman would use state-backed deregulation to usurp tens of thousands of city voters, but this is what I have come to expect of politicians.
I have but one thing to say to Mr. Workman: Please, don't Dallas my Austin.
State Representative Paul Workman has now filed bills into the legislature weakening environmental protection. Environmental protection has long been a hallmark of Austin politics. Former Mayor Gus Garcia once called Austin "a city within a park". Workman's bills will create a statewide, state-backed deregulation that should really be left to cities and their governances.
The Austin-American Statesman article discussing Workman's legislation includes increasing the area allowed on land tracts over the Edwards Aquifer (where we get our drinking water from) from 15-25% developed footprint to 45-50% - a potential 300% increase. The basic issue behind this development, albeit necessary to a degree, creates polluntants into our drinking source. Oil from cars, fertilizers from the artificial facades created from the wake of bull-dozing the natural habitats, and trash from us contaminate the aquifer. Other regulations would remove the city of Austin process for tree-removal, which currently mandates a city arborist for any tree greater than 19 inches. Lastly, Workman intends to limit the Save Our Springs Ordinance.
So, city tree ordinances began in the 1980's. The SOS alliance was formed in the early 90's and city of Austin voters approved the SOS ordinance. City of Austin voters created and have supported what they wanted for greater than 20 years. Let us examine Mr. Workman's background.
Mr. Workman has a long history in construction, as evidenced on his webpage. He is also a highly touted civic leader, being involved in Rotary. Aligned with his primary income, he has been a Board member for the Real Estate Council of Austin and National Director for the Association of General Contractors. Mr. Workman has a clear tutalege and loyalty to the industries that said legislation would benefit.
One question I have after reading Mr. Workman's bio is this: he took over his father's construction business in 1980. He moved to Austin in 1983 and began his construction business in 1991 "with no work and little money". My question is, what happened to his father's business? Did he ruin it? Did his brother run it into the ground? I'm curious to know...
It seems to me that Mr. Workman is clearly introducing self-serving legislation to benefit his peers and his own business at the expense of the environment. I am truly disappointed that Mr. Workman would use state-backed deregulation to usurp tens of thousands of city voters, but this is what I have come to expect of politicians.
I have but one thing to say to Mr. Workman: Please, don't Dallas my Austin.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
TexasFred Is Making Us Texans Look Stoopid
For my 4th government assignment, I was tasked with crititiquing a Texas blog. I came across this gem from TexasFred.net written today, March 7, 2013. The article entitled "Too Much Money spent in Iraq For Too Few Results" was essentially a waste of my time. The article is pretty weak, devoid of any real substance, and is really just a bandwaggoning on an AP report posted on CBS News found here. Thankfully, this blog entry was short and not too cerebral, making my assignment a little easier.
TexasFred.net is aka Fred Witzell. Not much is available on Mr. Witzell per search engine results other than the predictable ancestory.com and linkedin.com results. Mr. Fred is a self-described ultra conservative. Being that his moniker is "Texas Fred", that comes as no surprise. Unfortunately, I have come to find ultra conservatives as a special breed of stupid so Fred is already at a disadvantage in my book. At the risk of derailing this assingment and finishing before I die, I will not veer off course and list all of the GOP's transgressions in the last 15 minutes, but I will state that the "right" has become synonymous with scandal, hypocrisy, and an absolute refusal to compromise even in the face of putting their constituents in harm's way.
Mr. Witzell's point about the CBS article is that he is upset that the AP never making any mention about the dead and injured soldiers and Dubya's personal issues with Saddam Hussien; it's just too bad that the CBS article was on the irresponsible spending, financial mismanagement, and lack of oversight on Iraqi infrastructure so Fred kinda veered off topic. Granted, Fred's blog is his own and he can say what he wants, but he doesn't really contribute anything to the conversation other than basic martyrdom bandwaggoning and anecdotal drivel. Let me clarify myself - a single life lost was too high a price, so please do not infer any disrespect on my behalf to the soldiers lost and injured. It seems that Fred is using their blood to bang his drum - my opinion.
Fred then goes onto his soapbox and states he was fine with invading Afghanistan in pursuit of Al Queda, then wanders off-topic about his irrelevant knowledge of uranium and Sarin gas, then teeters off to his finest bit of ridiculousness with his statement of "we went to Iraq because George W. Bush was pissed off at Saddam Hussein over threats Hussein made against George H.W. Bush, nothing more, nothing less".
Fred pretty much discredited himself with that lone statement. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure we invaded Iraq due to Hussein's human rights violations, torture of the Iraqi people, his fascist regime, and his threats of pursuing nuclear capability. I have a hard time believing the POTUS would arbitrarily invade a country, without the vote of the US Congress (constitutionally mandated unless by executive priviledge) on a personal beef. I think that is a bit of a stretch. I do believe that Dubya had possible credible information linking Hussein to Al Queda and/or WMD's but hindsight found that to be not the case. For those reasons i can see starting a war, but not because of being butt-hurt over empty threats.
Fred then cut-n-pastes points regarding misappropriations for Iraqi infrastructure projects that are all too well known, detracting from his point. He then declares how money was wasted but then restates his anger at the lack of acknowledgement of loss of life. Fred then furhter discredits himself by speaking about how the soldiers deaths and exorbinant costs of the misappropriation is what caused our nation's economic recession. I would remind Fred that deregulated financial institutions, expansion of junk holdings to inflate stocks, creation of artificial economies, and the governmental intervention into the economy is really what caused our current situation... that, plus 2 wars, and the $11 trillion dollars in consumer holdings. Just sayin'.
I will take a moment to applaud Fred on not willy-nilly unconditionally supporting his party regardless of their action - i.e. his statement about Dubya taking in into Iraq in the first place. It seems too often that, in my perspective, people will side with polital affiliation rather than what is morally/ethically right, regardless of the issue. 10 gallon Hat's Off to Fred for that, but unfortunately the rest of his commentary is kinda silly - ergo, his moniker of "Texas Fred" lumps him into the same fold as I, yet I don't want Fred speaking for me. He makes us Texans look kinda stoopid, and Rick Perry is doing enough of that already.
TexasFred.net is aka Fred Witzell. Not much is available on Mr. Witzell per search engine results other than the predictable ancestory.com and linkedin.com results. Mr. Fred is a self-described ultra conservative. Being that his moniker is "Texas Fred", that comes as no surprise. Unfortunately, I have come to find ultra conservatives as a special breed of stupid so Fred is already at a disadvantage in my book. At the risk of derailing this assingment and finishing before I die, I will not veer off course and list all of the GOP's transgressions in the last 15 minutes, but I will state that the "right" has become synonymous with scandal, hypocrisy, and an absolute refusal to compromise even in the face of putting their constituents in harm's way.
Mr. Witzell's point about the CBS article is that he is upset that the AP never making any mention about the dead and injured soldiers and Dubya's personal issues with Saddam Hussien; it's just too bad that the CBS article was on the irresponsible spending, financial mismanagement, and lack of oversight on Iraqi infrastructure so Fred kinda veered off topic. Granted, Fred's blog is his own and he can say what he wants, but he doesn't really contribute anything to the conversation other than basic martyrdom bandwaggoning and anecdotal drivel. Let me clarify myself - a single life lost was too high a price, so please do not infer any disrespect on my behalf to the soldiers lost and injured. It seems that Fred is using their blood to bang his drum - my opinion.
Fred then goes onto his soapbox and states he was fine with invading Afghanistan in pursuit of Al Queda, then wanders off-topic about his irrelevant knowledge of uranium and Sarin gas, then teeters off to his finest bit of ridiculousness with his statement of "we went to Iraq because George W. Bush was pissed off at Saddam Hussein over threats Hussein made against George H.W. Bush, nothing more, nothing less".
Fred pretty much discredited himself with that lone statement. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure we invaded Iraq due to Hussein's human rights violations, torture of the Iraqi people, his fascist regime, and his threats of pursuing nuclear capability. I have a hard time believing the POTUS would arbitrarily invade a country, without the vote of the US Congress (constitutionally mandated unless by executive priviledge) on a personal beef. I think that is a bit of a stretch. I do believe that Dubya had possible credible information linking Hussein to Al Queda and/or WMD's but hindsight found that to be not the case. For those reasons i can see starting a war, but not because of being butt-hurt over empty threats.
Fred then cut-n-pastes points regarding misappropriations for Iraqi infrastructure projects that are all too well known, detracting from his point. He then declares how money was wasted but then restates his anger at the lack of acknowledgement of loss of life. Fred then furhter discredits himself by speaking about how the soldiers deaths and exorbinant costs of the misappropriation is what caused our nation's economic recession. I would remind Fred that deregulated financial institutions, expansion of junk holdings to inflate stocks, creation of artificial economies, and the governmental intervention into the economy is really what caused our current situation... that, plus 2 wars, and the $11 trillion dollars in consumer holdings. Just sayin'.
I will take a moment to applaud Fred on not willy-nilly unconditionally supporting his party regardless of their action - i.e. his statement about Dubya taking in into Iraq in the first place. It seems too often that, in my perspective, people will side with polital affiliation rather than what is morally/ethically right, regardless of the issue. 10 gallon Hat's Off to Fred for that, but unfortunately the rest of his commentary is kinda silly - ergo, his moniker of "Texas Fred" lumps him into the same fold as I, yet I don't want Fred speaking for me. He makes us Texans look kinda stoopid, and Rick Perry is doing enough of that already.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Texas Senator Van De Putte on Standardized Testing
After spending days scouring teh interwebz for articles to critique for my 3rd assignment this semester, I came across this article from guest columnist Leticia Van De Putte in the El Paso Times. The article "Testing measures must be changed to enhance success", written Feb 17, 2013 addresses WHY our current standardized testing process should be changed. I did not know who Mrs. Van De Putte was prior to this article but I came to be highly impressed by this individual. Mrs. Van De Putte is better known as Texas State Senator Van De Putte, District 26 (San Antonio/Bexar County), and her background includes a lengthy tenure in the Texas House of Representatives (5 terms) and has been State Senator for 15 years. Other political accomplishments include the 2008 Democratic National Convention Co-Chair (alumnus include Dr. Barbara Jordan and Gov. Ann Richards) and a Harvard education. She also happens to have 6 children and 6 grandchildren and a slew of other honors, awards, and acknowledgements. Her bio can be found at http://www.vandeputte.senate.state.tx.us/ and her home page is http://www.leticiavandeputte.com/. On her home page, I noticed on her twitter account a retort to Charles Barkley's mental diarrhea about large women (seen here on youtube) and while Barkley probably does not follow Senator VDP's tweets, her spunk is clearly evident. I like her already, and with all she has accomplished I can draw no other conclusion that Mrs. Van De Putte is clearly SuperWoman.
Regarding the article, Senator VDP starts with anecdotal conjecture and can be paraphrased with Mama Bears are concerned with HOW their children are tested, not the why. Her target audience is parents of any public school child, pointing out that the crucial flaws of standardized testing does not address more important benchmarks of an educated child - critical thinking, problem solving, and technological competency. Being a parent myself and acutely aware of how ridiculous STAAR tests are, Senator VDP immediately had my attention. Also consider my 10 year old daughter- she goes to school 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. During that time, she has PE every other day for 20 minutes, music every other day, and their lunch is an awesome 20 minutes. Something has to be occupying her time, and i bet it is a curriculum fabricated by people who don't know what they are doing as evidenced by statistics.
VDP discusses how the 15 benchmarks of STAAR are burdensome; 3 elements - algebra, english, and writing are really the most important litmus for evaluating a child's education. Looking over the other criteria, US and World History are important subject areas, but they seem more like memorization of facts and dates, then a regurgitation (sorry Dr. Seago, nothing personal) of said dates and facts. Ideally I would love my children to have a strong grasp on history, physics, and geometry but what is more important is the teaching of my kids HOW to think, not what they should know arbitrarily. This brings my to my next point, which coincides with VDP. She remarks about how China has the hardest college entrance exam in the world yet they cannot produce the next Steve Jobs. I have heard before anecdotally that Singaporean people are the most educated people in the world, yet all their R&D leaders are Americans because as a society, they are educated through a rigorous state curriculum (common that children go to school 5 days a week, 12 hours a day usually w 2 hrs tutoring - Dan Rather Reports) and their social time is compromised. This understandably leads to the inability to take initiative.
Back to the topic, Texas ranks dismally in education - Texas ranks 50th among the states in the percentage of its population 25 or older with a high school diploma (statistical evidence created by people who don't know what they are doing)! Last place! Let's not forget we are 1st in the nation in executions though! Even though China and Singapore don't have a Steve Jobs, they do have low unemployment (2%). So, there is something to be said about the rigorous standardized education if a nation of minions led creatively by other countries is what we are after.
Regarding the article, Senator VDP starts with anecdotal conjecture and can be paraphrased with Mama Bears are concerned with HOW their children are tested, not the why. Her target audience is parents of any public school child, pointing out that the crucial flaws of standardized testing does not address more important benchmarks of an educated child - critical thinking, problem solving, and technological competency. Being a parent myself and acutely aware of how ridiculous STAAR tests are, Senator VDP immediately had my attention. Also consider my 10 year old daughter- she goes to school 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. During that time, she has PE every other day for 20 minutes, music every other day, and their lunch is an awesome 20 minutes. Something has to be occupying her time, and i bet it is a curriculum fabricated by people who don't know what they are doing as evidenced by statistics.
VDP discusses how the 15 benchmarks of STAAR are burdensome; 3 elements - algebra, english, and writing are really the most important litmus for evaluating a child's education. Looking over the other criteria, US and World History are important subject areas, but they seem more like memorization of facts and dates, then a regurgitation (sorry Dr. Seago, nothing personal) of said dates and facts. Ideally I would love my children to have a strong grasp on history, physics, and geometry but what is more important is the teaching of my kids HOW to think, not what they should know arbitrarily. This brings my to my next point, which coincides with VDP. She remarks about how China has the hardest college entrance exam in the world yet they cannot produce the next Steve Jobs. I have heard before anecdotally that Singaporean people are the most educated people in the world, yet all their R&D leaders are Americans because as a society, they are educated through a rigorous state curriculum (common that children go to school 5 days a week, 12 hours a day usually w 2 hrs tutoring - Dan Rather Reports) and their social time is compromised. This understandably leads to the inability to take initiative.
Back to the topic, Texas ranks dismally in education - Texas ranks 50th among the states in the percentage of its population 25 or older with a high school diploma (statistical evidence created by people who don't know what they are doing)! Last place! Let's not forget we are 1st in the nation in executions though! Even though China and Singapore don't have a Steve Jobs, they do have low unemployment (2%). So, there is something to be said about the rigorous standardized education if a nation of minions led creatively by other countries is what we are after.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
At the risk of repeating myself...
Here we are again! Good ol' Rick Perry is back at it again boasting tax cuts for all, yet pushing for dipping into the rainy day fund for the construction of water and roads. Ben Wear's Statesman.com article entitled "Perry Calls for More Money for Roads" written January 29th, 2013 rings the gong once again for taxpayers to line the pockets of Phil Wilson and his gang over at TXDOT. Perry is calling for $3.7B to be invested in "water and roads" yet does not specify how much for each project. Wait, there's more. He is further calling for another $1.3B to be diverted from the State Highway Fund (revenues from gas company taxes and vehicle registration fees) to "other state needs".
Wait. What?
So he wants to yank money from the Economic Stabilization Fund to put into money for roads, then take the revenue from vehicle registration (that pay for roads) into something else? Isn't that robbing Peter to pay Paul? Allow us to remember that we had 13 schools close in 2011 from state budget shortfalls, and Perry wants to take money for roads. Last I checked, educating our children yielded better results for our society than did paving our roads.
So, we now have $5B on the table and no idea where it's going. This is par for the course with the Texas Legislature under Perry. But let's go back for a second. The article states "the overwhelming amount" of the $1.3B will go to TXDPS, "hardly discretionary spending". I agree to a point. TXDPS troopers are some of the pre-eminent authoritarians regarding law enforcement in this state. We could discuss about how there are several troopers with huge jurisdictions and response areas that could necessitate hours before back up arrives, heightening the danger they face. However, let us remember this is the same organization that allowed an "arsonist" to walk into the 2nd most important structure in the State and set fire to it... undetected... with dozens of security cameras and TXDPS officers who were supposed to be posted at every entrance.
The last thing I'll say is about Perry's crony Wilson asking for $1.5B more than the proposed budgets. Let's look at the math. The FY budget for 2014-15 is $20.8B, 14% above our current FY, equating to roughly $17.8B. However, the extra $1.5B equates to an extra 5%, making that a 22% increase. That money has to come from somewhere. Oh, right... the taxpayers.
The reason why I feel this article is worth reading stems from my long observed behavior of Perry exploiting taxpayers for footing the bill for sweetheart deals with foreign-owned transportation/construction/management businesses. If you have lived in Texas for any period of time, you should be pretty familiar with this topic. I wrote about this already last semester here. I urge you to pay attention. We already live in the highest property-taxed counties in the State. It's only going to get more expensive. I would rather us put money into educating our children to come up with solutions like rubberized asphalt from recycled tires rather than just repaving roads with temporary fixes. But then again, our roads are pretty good already and I can't fathom $10B/year.
Wait. What?
So he wants to yank money from the Economic Stabilization Fund to put into money for roads, then take the revenue from vehicle registration (that pay for roads) into something else? Isn't that robbing Peter to pay Paul? Allow us to remember that we had 13 schools close in 2011 from state budget shortfalls, and Perry wants to take money for roads. Last I checked, educating our children yielded better results for our society than did paving our roads.
So, we now have $5B on the table and no idea where it's going. This is par for the course with the Texas Legislature under Perry. But let's go back for a second. The article states "the overwhelming amount" of the $1.3B will go to TXDPS, "hardly discretionary spending". I agree to a point. TXDPS troopers are some of the pre-eminent authoritarians regarding law enforcement in this state. We could discuss about how there are several troopers with huge jurisdictions and response areas that could necessitate hours before back up arrives, heightening the danger they face. However, let us remember this is the same organization that allowed an "arsonist" to walk into the 2nd most important structure in the State and set fire to it... undetected... with dozens of security cameras and TXDPS officers who were supposed to be posted at every entrance.
The last thing I'll say is about Perry's crony Wilson asking for $1.5B more than the proposed budgets. Let's look at the math. The FY budget for 2014-15 is $20.8B, 14% above our current FY, equating to roughly $17.8B. However, the extra $1.5B equates to an extra 5%, making that a 22% increase. That money has to come from somewhere. Oh, right... the taxpayers.
The reason why I feel this article is worth reading stems from my long observed behavior of Perry exploiting taxpayers for footing the bill for sweetheart deals with foreign-owned transportation/construction/management businesses. If you have lived in Texas for any period of time, you should be pretty familiar with this topic. I wrote about this already last semester here. I urge you to pay attention. We already live in the highest property-taxed counties in the State. It's only going to get more expensive. I would rather us put money into educating our children to come up with solutions like rubberized asphalt from recycled tires rather than just repaving roads with temporary fixes. But then again, our roads are pretty good already and I can't fathom $10B/year.
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