Big Business or Education... We Can Have Both.

"Some recent studies have also postulated linkage between improperly sited and managed saltwater disposal wells and minor earthquake activity, and the Texas Railroad Commission and legislative leaders are beginning to take concrete steps to address this concern.

But again, these are all issues that come about thanks to the economic growth that is produced by resource abundance, and they sure beat the kinds of challenges Texans and all Americans suffered through during the oil shocks and resource constraints of the 1970's.

This truly is a great time to be a Texan. God Bless Texas."

- David Blackmon, Forbes Magazine 1/9/2014, "Oil & Gas Boom 2014: A Great Time To Be A Texan"

The quote above is from an article touting the economic benefits of the Eagle Ford Shale and the Permian Basin oil reserves.  With the recent increases in production, Texas has risen to a level that would place them at 9th of the world's largest oil producing countries if they seceded.

The problem with this thinking is that it's strictly focusing on how Texas is a success economically, and not looking at the big picture. Texas will never be successful if it is only chasing dollars for the wealthiest of the state and to fill the State Treasury's coffers. Texas needs to change the emphasis on only making money, and change the focus to building a foundation for the future by strengthing our fractured education system. Only by having an educated population will we be able to move away from the technologies of the past and work towards implementing newer and cleaner energy solutions. Texas could lead the way, as a provider of alternative fuels and lead our state into the future as an economic leader, and conversely taking us out of our Stone Age thinking.

One of the biggest problems facing Texas today is our education system. There are numerous thoughts about how to solve the problem of education, and unfortunately for the students and children of Texas none of them seem to match up, and it's leaves the powers that be in a stalemate. The biggest problem currently facing the Texas education system is the way it's funded. The individual school districts are forced to raise money from local taxes, or school districts, to cover their expenses. Unfortunately for many school districts, they are not able to raise enough funds within their district to meet their budgets each year. This is brought about the "Robin Hood" practice, where smaller districts are partially funded by funds from larger more wealthier districts. This system cannot sustain itself. With the ever growing population in Texas, specifically of non-english speaking students, the poorer district bear the burden of these challenges which translate into high costs.

Ultimately I see no way that the school districts can continue, especially with the barrage of de-funding efforts from the legislature at the state capital unless we have some sort of significant tax reform.

all Texans should pay for all the cost of Texas education. This is a state problem and we all need to contribute.  I'm not calling for a state income tax.  What I am calling for is an increase in corporate taxes to help pay for the education of their future employees.  What good is it to cut the taxes of a corporation that moves it's headquarters to Texas, if they can't find any capable employees in the state it is now located in.  Let's giving away the milk for free.  Let's make these companies pay their share for being part of the community.  The taxes collected from their economic successes should partially fund the education of their future CEO's.

Is Texas Gay for Gay Money?

Before I get started: 

In Jennifer Avilez's blog article, "Boosting Texas' Economy by Granting Same-Sex Marriage," she discusses whether or not it will benefit Texas financially to allow gays to marry, she misses the point.

I find it hilarious that in this country we sometimes wait until it's fiscally feasible or beneficial before we do the right thing. To try and examine the psychology of Americans would take way too long so I'm going to just use our author as an example of the mindset of America today. Jennifer is from Austin Texas, she is a young woman who identifies as a liberal, and if I was to guess is possibly of Hispanic heritage. One would say with those characteristics Jennifer might be open to new things and excepting of different cultures, lifestyles, and free from some of the conservative bigotry that we have seen so often in American politics.

I think the first thing the tip to me off that I should not judge a book by its cover was the first sentence in Jennifer's blog, "I believe it does not make sense to regulate gay marriage because they are going to find a way to marry as they please regardless of state limitations." It's almost as if Jennifer feels that there are some back alley gay marriage clubs that are running late into the night, and they're probably running 2-for-1 specials for a gay marriage and abortions at the same time. Jennifer has taken the human component out of the gay marriage debate altogether, a strategic mistake. She has disregarded the fact that as Americans we are given the right by our Constitution to pursue happiness. 

She simply addressed the economical component which has allowed her to come to the conclusion that gay marriage should be legalized in the state of Texas if for no other reason but to bring millions of dollars, even if it's gay dollars to the state economy.

I think I understand what Jennifer is saying. I fear though that she just went about it the wrong way. She's a numbers girl, an accounting major, so she only sees dollar signs. This is why we don't see many accountants writing public policy. If we allowed the bean counters to make all of the socio-economic political decisions, slavery would still be a thing. I must be clear when I say that I myself am not a gay man. I do not want to be accused of just being emotional about this issue. I have looked at this from a human perspective, and I must say that if I was a gay man I would be offended that the only reason that the state that I live in is considering my happiness is because it covets my money

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Jennifer also highlights the gigantic Trojan Horse, gay marriage in Texas causes. By legalizing gay marriage that may bring a lot of gay dollars to the state, and that could be good for the Texas economy, but is Texas ready for the gays? Believe it or not, they are already here. You must remember this is Texas, and even though Austin is a very progressive place there are still many places in this great state where the eyes of Texas are truly upon you, making sure you aren't too different. 

This article also reminded me of the issue in Arizona just a few short months ago when they passed a law that said that a business does not have to service gay individuals if it is against the business owner's religion. This proposed law ultimately legalized discrimination. Can you imagine one of the largest red states in the nation legalizing gay marriage. I can imagine it, and hope for many of my friend's sake it happens sooner rather than later. But I don't think the gay community will except it is a victory if it's only because it's going to bring more money to the coffers of Texas, and it's not based on the simple fact that it is their HUMAN right to be happy.  

Next time I hope Jennifer remembers to consider the human component in these discussions, and not just the dollars and cents.  Some of the biggest problems in this country go unsolved because of the dollars and cents, and not the right's and wrong's.  I look forward to her next article about how the gays can help solve the immigration problem by adopting all of the brown babies!

Don't Mess With Stupid

Let's start with this great list by Carol Morgan from the Lubbock Avalanche Journal.

I have been trying to figure out the issue in Texas State or local government that I most wanted to write about.  I even expanded my thinking to "rail" against the metro rail system, or lack of in the Capital City.  I started researching the MOPAC toll-roll, and how that is not going to actually solve any of the traffic congestion chocking Austin's roadways.

But as I sit in a dorm room at Southern University for a Phi Theta Kappa, Texas Honors Institute conference I have to reflect on what I learned today.  This conference is for members of the National Honor Society(Phi Theta Kappa is the ACC Chapter), to get together and learn more about our Yearly Honors In Action project.  The project is for us as a chapter to research a topic that can better our society, and lead to a better future for all of us.  Now, I'm a 38 year old man, and most of my colleagues are in their early 20's.  So many of the things we are learning about are way outside the scope of what would be interesting for these kids.

But what really stopped me in my tracks was when, during a group discussion, I brought up Juneteenth, and the history of this yearly celebration.  Five out of the twelve people in my discussion group had never heard of Juneteenth.  I was floored.  All five of them were lifelong citizens of Texas, and lived in different regions of Texas.  How can this not be a component of the Texas secondary school education.  I can understand why it may be omitted from the early childhood curriculum, but surely a teenager that has seen, 12 Years a Slave, or even Jango might be able to handle this history.  I guess what I'm saying is, the Texas State educational system is failing it's citizens.

I have a lot of family in Texas, and I grew up in Northern Virginia.  Several times during my childhood a cousin would move with their family to Virginia, and my cousin would enroll in a Virginia school.  Each time that cousin would have to re-take a grade because they were behind. Several times cousins would move to Texas from Virginia, and they were lucky enough to skip a grade, and graduate early.  I also wanted my parents to move to Texas so I could skip a grade.

Texas has historically had a terrible education system. And the worst part, I can't find an article newer than 2012 about the subject.  I guess nobody cares.  In the past the argument was that all the hispanic kids were bring down the standarized tests. Well I can logically follow that arguement, but that argument was never followed up with a proposed solution.  The last I checked there are a few thousand new future foreign-exchange students that are going to be in the system before you know it.  We need to teach our citizens.  The problems we face on a day-to-day basis in this crazy world are compounded by ignorance.  Poverty is a never ending cycle with ignorance, crime as well.  It's time for our leaders to commit to a smarter Texas, too.

Sometimes It takes the Senseless Killing of 298 People to Help People Get Along

The world is a mess.  You would have to live in a cave to not realize it. In the editorial, "Will Flight 17 Sober Us Up?", by E.J. Dionne, Jr the case is made for cool heads, and bi-partisan action. Dionne is tired of the same old politics.  The type of politics that tows the party line, and constantly uses national and world events as another opportunity to attack their political opponent.  This is the arena our politicians play in everyday. It's a stab or get stabbed contest.  And for the republicans, everything is President Obama's fault.

Google Search: "Ukraine is Obama's Fault"

He's dammed if he does, and damned if he doesn't. He's at fault for letting Putin take Crimea.  He didn't act forcefully enough to arm the Ukrainians to fight the Russian separatists. He hasn't started filling tankers with liquid gas to replace the gas that Russia supplies to ALL of Europe.

Google Search: "Shipping Gas to Europe"

Growing up in the 80's I lived in a very military neighborhood.  I lived in Northern Virginia and most of my friend's fathers were Colonels or Lt. Colonels, or Majors, or Jar head-Squids or something.  My point is I learned what it meant to be obedient to the Commander.  I learned that you always show respect to the commanding officer, and even if the order was not the best order, it was an order and you follow it.  I witnessed this allegiance to the commander during the 80's, when Reagan was the King, I mean President.  Back then it was easier to follow the leader, he was white, he was Republican, and he funded the military with billions.  This continued into the George H.W. Bush years, the turn happened when Clinton was elected, and the tone of disrespect began.  Clinton also ruined it for everybody.  He disrespected the office by getting a "blowie in the ovie", and it's been a house of clowns ever since.  

I don't feel like Obama is a clown, I just think he lives in a "House of Clowns".  But if you live in a house that clowns normally live in, people will assume you are a clown.  Dionne want Obama to shed the clown moniker.  

He wants him to be more firm.  More out in front of the problem.  I am picking up what Dionne is putting down, I yell at the TV too from time to time.  But I don't think Obama is operating on a lead from behind position.  These are difficult times.  The human race has backed it's self into a corner.  The only way to solve any of these problems is to start over.  We went the wrong way some time ago.  Our dependence on Money, Oil, Prostitutes, Drugs, and Power has set us up for failure.  As we walk the tight rope to prevent escalation in Ukraine, we watch passively as Israel systematically exterminates the residents in Gaza, and somewhere out there is a rich white republican who is confident that it's all Obama's fault.  I hope Dionne is right.  I hope that the downing of Flight 17, and the senseless killing of those 298 people will not be in vain.  I hope that cooler heads will prevail and Putin will order the separatists out of Ukraine.  I hope we don't send weapons to Ukraine.  I hope Israel stops the killing.  I hope Hamas stops shooting back. I hope the republicans and Democrats can get along, and start to work on the real problems in our country.  I hope they can realize how their party-line rhetoric can make us look weak.  My mom always said to my sister and I that we could fight in the house, but when we went outside we fought for each other. That never left me.  I think that's what Dionne is asking for.  Keep the fighting in house.  And when it comes to international relations, follow the leader!

Cruz Missles Fired at The Dreamers - Will The U.S. Government Allow Them to Protect Themselves?

   On Senator Ted Cruz's Wikipedia page if you do a word search for the following words,
"Hispanic", "Latino", "Cuban", "Minority", or "First Hispanic",  you will get the following results:

Hispanic - 8 Mentions
First Hispanic - 2 Mentions
Latino - 10 Mentions
Cuban - 8 Mentions
Minority - 2 Mentions

His story is not uncommon in America.  His father is an immigrant, he fled Cuba, and sought a better life here in The United States. 

The elder Cruz, "Had a Dream!"

In the Burnt Orange Report blog article written by Omar Araiza, titled "U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's Newest Crusade: Abolish DACA Program And Deport All DREAMers", Cruz comes across as a self-hating Hispanic. He himself is a beneficiary of his father's opportunity here in America, and he wants to shut the gates and throw away the key.  What an asshole.

Mr. Araiza has done a good job to introduce the new bill introduced by Cruz on Thursday.  He points out that Cruz is not happy with the other bill proposed by his fellow Texas Senator John Corryn, and Congressman Henry Cueller.  He was so disappointed with their bill he had to, "Kick it up a Notch."  

"The president's policies that allow people who come here illegally to stay is what is creating a magnet for this crisis, and the problem can't be solved until those policies are stopped," said Cruz's spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier. "This should be a prerequisite for any legislation that is considered by the Senate on this issue."

So Cruz's proposed bill will eliminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which President Obama initiated in 2012 to help provide a bridge to citizenship to the millions of children of immigrants in this country with illegal immigrant status. Cruz blames DACA as the reason we are seeing an influx of immigrants from our southern neighbors.  I will propose this as a possible reason:

I must admit, I've never kicked a baby, but I bet it takes a lot of courage.  Ted Cruz has some enormous balls.  As a Hispanic he has basically spit on his "people." I wish Mr. Araiza had spent a little bit more time talking about how ironic it is that Cruz has launched an attack on his fellow Hispanics.  His elite status as a Senator has given him a high enough perch to make him feel out of reach of the piñata bats. Cruz is a paper maché Humpty Dumpty, the wall he is sitting on was built by the hard working hands of immigrants like his father, that came before him.  Spewing hate rhetoric to make these children the enemy will make him fall faster than he realizes.  Unfortunately for him this a democratic country, and there will not be any "King's Horses", or "King's Men" to put this Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Additional Reading(Extra Credit): http://thoughtcatalog.com/nicole-mullen/2014/07/mexican-immigrants-are-destructing-the-american-language/

Republicans Plan to Serve Mexican on Election Night, The Cuisine Not the People

Here's an simple exercise for you.  Take a pad of paper and write the following words down the left side of the paper: White and Non-White. Have a friend drive you around town for five minutes, or sit on a busy street corner, and tally up the number of people that fall into these two categories (Please send results to ME!). I sat on the corner of Ben White and S. 1st Street for five minutes and counted 38-"Whites" and 117-"Non-Whites." Your results may be a little different than mine depending on where you live, but here in South Austin where I live my results favored, "Non-Whites". Now this is a very unscientific survey, but it opened my eyes to the diversity of cultures that reside in my district, or at least pass through.  I understand that "Non-White" is a broad category, and it lumps a large number of minority groups into one bucket. But that is my point. When all the minority groups are grouped together they can easily become a majority, thusly making the "White" category a minority to "Non-Whites." The only way that the "White" category can regain it's status of majority is to break the "Non-White" category up, and whittle the numbers down into more specific ethnic groups: Asian, Hispanic, African-American, Native American, Middle Eastern, etc..

In the Statesman article, "Feds: Texas voting maps deliberately discriminated" by Will Weissert writes about the declaration by the U.S. Justice department that, "Texas lawmakers carefully crafted electoral maps marginalizing minority voters despite the state’s exploding Hispanic population in a deliberate effort to racially discriminate and protect conservative incumbents." This is nothing new.  Whites have historically be bad at playing fair with the voting rights of black and/or brown people in Texas, SEE: Juneteenth, SEE: Jim Crow Laws.  We live in a state that has been run by white men since the days of the Republic of Texas, and there is a "fear of loss" mentality going on with the remaining whites in power.  Gerrymandering(redrawing voting districts), is the only way to control an election outcome. We all know it is shady business. 

I appealed to some of my facebook friends to give me their opinions on this article:

Most of the responses I got were like this:

One friend messaged me personally(I have removed her name by request):

The racial divides run deep in this country, and I'm not trying to solve racism in this post.  Because of my ethnic background I am sensitive to this subject.  My mother's family is from The Valley deep in the south of Texas.  My family tree pre-dates the Republic of Texas, and I've always just felt lucky that when the line was drawn my ancestors were on the northern side. But nearly 200 years later, some of the people that helped build this State are still treated like second-class citizens. With the recent flood of immigrants from Central and South America these racial divisions are beginning to bubble to the surface.  It's almost as predictable as the backlash after President Obama took office.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/graffiti-on-proposed-shelter-for-immigrant-children-in-maryland-no-illeagles-here/2014/07/14/cc89610a-0b89-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html

The White Majority will constantly work to divide the darker classes to keep them weak. But if the minority classes can band together that can start to remove some of the racist practices that are going on in our local government and set a tone for the rest of the country. My grandfather used to tell a story about how, "the Hispanics in Texas were like crabs in a bucket, as soon as one reaches the rim and starts to pull themselves up another crab will reach up to pull them selves up as well and they both fall back in the bucket." Let's start helping each other out of the damn bucket.