Use of pepper spray on Youths

Seems that our current decades police focus on finding new non lethal weapons is getting creative. Pepper spray is really dangerous, especially on youth because of the strong allergic reactions. I can see the fine line between protecting the officers while allowing them have an effective non lethal weapon vs. unruly people. Adding extra buricradic rules does not make since as these situations are already tense. Not sure of a good answer other than I am glade to see its being reviewed.

Studies and the LACK of Facts

Texas on the Brink
“Distant Dream”
How Texas Ranks Among the 50 States
January 2007 ~ Third Edition

Tonight's entry will be a verbose venting of my spleen focused on the injustice done by the authors of this so called study. I must say its a wonderful example of statistical reporting done with one eye closed to the facts and the other purposefully misrepresenting the facts via poor analysis. Can you tell I might be a little upset over this study?

Why, facts are facts are they not? Yes, facts are facts if they are factual and presented in a fair and unbiased manner. The authors of this study have taken time to list all kinds of facts that pit Texas against our fellow States. Makes one wonder how that works given Texas has many social and economical issues that are shared only by a few states.

I personally would love to hear how Iowa is dealing with their large border they share with Mexico.....or how Pennsylvania is dealing with the massive influx of immigrants from Mexico that swell their welfare rolls. Better yet what about North Dakotas issues with the changing demographics of their citizens to a predominantly Hispanic nature. No, these facts I have listed are not other states issued but they are Texas's issues.

These are just a few problems Texas deals with that other states don't yet we are pasted at the bottom or the top of the ratings and hardly ever in a good manner. If your going to do a ranking study that focuses on social economical issue at least have the backbone to take into account each states individual issues instead of mashing all states together. Sensationalism has its place as entertainment in the tabloids section of the news stand.

Talk about racism

I would have to agree with the authors post on the total lack of transparency and direct fairness this case represents. The author has covered the emotional issues with personal commentary and laid out a brief but concise amount of facts on Mr. Brown's case.

If we review current pro bono legal aid web sites they are stocked with horrible stories of justice not being color blind. I also agree that a judge should view a person before the bench as a human first regardless of race, creed, or color.

Great follow up point in the conclusion statement calling for some kind of review or censure of the judge. We are a nation based on laws and our justices should be held accountable to those same laws and the criminals that go before them. Would have been a great ending to have added some current follow up on the issues with Mr. Brown or with the judge.

State of the Texas Education System: Forced Serfdom with a Touch of Discrimination

Just wanted to set the tone of this article with a clear definition of the two descriptive words used in its title.

Serfdom:
1.
a person in a condition of servitude, required to render services to a lord, commonly attached to the lord's land and transferred with it from one owner to another.
2.
a slave.

Discrimination:

1.
an act or instance of discriminating.
2.
treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.
3.
the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.
4.
Archaic. something that serves to differentiate.




In the great state of Texas we have an education system that resembles that of a feudal caste system with regards to our teachers. When reviewed and matched up to other states Texas teachers receive some of the lowest pay and benefits with ever increasing expectations placed upon them. Rights of the students and the current train wreak called TAKS testing have further pushed the ranks of teachers to a new low. Tell me where in society do we have a specific group of state workers whose job impacts our states future and who are treated with such distain? Teachers no more........lets just call them educational serfs.

The lords in this diatribe would be the Texas state legislature and its spineless king Perry. Harsh words you say but lets review some of the issues at hand. As reported in an earlier blog entry, Governor Rick Perry vetoed some key funding that allowed simple merit raises and benefits within the state college systems. I am not going to get into the facts as they are listed below, but the bottom line was for political issues with total discrimination towards our teachers. Using the definition listed in line two for discrimination focused on the category of teachers. After an impressive grass roots upheaval the powers at be relented and even pushed for more funding. I personally have a foul taste in my mouth when we as an electorate allow politics to interfere with our educational system. My in-laws are retired state educational serfs. One from the college level and the other from the high school system. Both have advanced degrees and 30 plus years of experience that would equal or surpass a Director or VP position in a fortune 500 company. They devoted their lives to teaching us with the expected benefit of bettering others lives and in full knowledge that retirement would be hard.

Why then I ask you do we allow our elected legislature to continually meddle with the states educational system for political reasons............not educational?

Garcia: The business of education

The source of this article is Arnold Garcia, Editorial Page Editor, Austin American-Statesman. His target audience is main stream Texans that read the local news. Garcia seems to try to back his core ideas with facts but most are lost in broad statements of opinion back with little factoids. Garcias arguments focused on the Texas education system. How it is funded, how effective it is and how it can be improved. He starts out with some interesting facts coving past Texas education success and then focuses the article on our dropout rates. Using real life numbers the author compares the economic impact a dropout has on the economy vs. that of high school graduate or college graduate. The author walks us though the dropout numbers from 2006 in the Austin school district. He then makes an assumption that a majority of these high school dropouts will be incarcerated. Then follows a factual numbers based explanation on how much that will cost society vs. someone who graduated high school. In a nutshell he states that while Texas public education has some problems it works and is still very important to kids. I personally feel that the argument is successful and backed by most of the facts listed. Garcia does lose some momentum when he adds in little "sound bites" of facts that offer no real information but are there to elicit an emotional response.

Again I see the political implications playing out in politician’s upcoming campaigns. This is a hot button for Texas voters and we want a viable solution that gets past partisan politics.

*Title is the stories link

Texas border mayors block access to proposed fence sites

Consider the source and the audience

Source of this article is Juan A. Lozanor, a reporter with the Associated Press. His target audience seems to be main stream Americans and general news readers. He focuses the core group with a mixture of factual statements that are informative for the target audience.


Lay out the argument and the underlying values and assumptions

The author’s arguments are: “Does the United States government have the right to build on private land” and “What are the rights of the cities who own the land being used”.

The assumptions presented in the form of a news article are that the cities have the right to block the federal government from building the fence, and that the federal government can build with changes in federal and state laws. With the amount of information provided to back the author’s article I do see a clearly defined set of information based on observations and factual reasoning.

Uncover the evidence

Facts and evidence. The facts in the information presented by the author are conclusive because they are all open records and can be found on the books as current state law protecting land owners. The border city Mayors do not agree with the federal government on the effectiveness of building a fence to keep out illegal immigrants. They plan to use the state and federal laws protecting personal property and city property rights to challenge the federal government in court. On the flip side the federal government plans to introduce federal legislation that will allow lands to be acquired for the project in the name of homeland security. Some interesting and hard facts are listed in the later part of the article that shows the differences between the city governments and the federal government’s arguments and add general facts on the border fence project.


Evaluate the conclusion

I do feel that the argument is successful and truly backed by the facts listed. What starts off as a critique of the fence project by a single mayor is expanded to include several boarder towns and speculative discussion on the legality issues raised. My personal opinion focuses on how effective a fence will be on keeping illegal immigrants out of our county without addressing the real issues that cause it. Monies spent on the fence and the upcoming legal challenges might be put to better use trying to understand why the US has an immigration issue with Mexico.


Sort out the political implications

The political implications of the boarder fence will be played out in both parties coming presidential campaigns. This drama will be on the national stage with strong trickle down effects to the state and local levels. We can expect to see facts mixed with sensational news and speculative reporting on all opinions concerning the border and immigration issues.

I hope that we as a nation can keep in mind that this is about people who have lives, families, and social economic situations that make becoming an illegal immigrant a positive outcome. How can a fence even begin to address that?

State leaders talk up community college funding but details murky

After vetoing $154 million in fund earmarked for staff health insurance at state community colleges, Governor Perry has proposed $200m or more to kill the unrest upon the legislatures approval. Outlined $92m for health insurance and the rest on performance incentives. The plan is being put together and should be ready for a vote before program cuts and tax increases to cover the shortfalls within the ACC campuses. Current plan calls for the $154m if given back to the colleges to come from other state programs. The veto comes down to disagreements between Perry and the community colleges on how to spit the health care cost statewide.

Why is this story important and relevant?

This article shows a perfect example of the political one-upmanship and good old boy politics that Texas is known for. Relevant because it hits us all with higher taxes, tuition, and lack of benefits for our teachers. This is an updated article that the Statesmen put out four weeks after its first report. It clearly shows that steps that are needed to get the monies needed and who is at the center of the issue. I wonder what would have happened if nobody said anything?