No Representation Without Taxation

Last year G.E. earned $5.1 billion in profits from U.S. operations alone and yet didn’t pay one penny in U.S. taxes. David Kocieniewski of the NY Times reported, “Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore.” President Obama has selected G.E.’s chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, as the leader of his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

Our President has rewarded the C.E.O. of our nation’s largest company which pays no federal taxes with a position which will economic develop policy. The single greatest problem we face in the United States is that big business has far too much influence with our federal and state legislators and our President has seen fit to give them even more.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said of the influence of big money: “We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.”

President Obama has failed to see the damage that the influence of big money is damaging our democracy. The people of this country must rally to the cry of “No representation without taxation!”

Letter to the editor responding to calls to defund Planned Parenthood

In Beverly Nuckols letter of March 28 she seems quite concerned that her tax dollars shouldn’t be spent on safe, legal medical procedures for women. Republicans in Congress want to deny government employees insurance coverage for that same medical procedure because tax dollars pay for that insurance.

I want them consider something similar for men. As a tax payer I am offended that my tax dollars and insurance premiums go to pay for penile implants and erectile dysfunction drugs for 70 year old unmarried men.

In addition since Ms. Nuckols will certainly justify her objection to abortions on religious grounds then to be logically consistent she should consider that if God intended everyone to be able to procreate then they would, therefore since some men can’t it must be because God intended it that way and we have no business intervening with modern medicine. Of course by extension then all of modern medicine is questionable. Should we stop repairing defective heart valves in newborns? What about surgery to correct cleft palates and hare lips? Should we stop treating cancer?

I’m 81 years old and I’ve seen a lot over the years, I find Ms. Nuckols desire to force her version of morality down the throats of everyone else particularly offensive.

What marriage tradition are they defending?

The “family values” crowd promoted and passed a law years ago called the Defense of Marriage Act; exactly why they thought marriage needed defending I never understood. Those same folks claim that traditional marriage is the only form of marriage that is acceptable but I don’t think they really know what tradition they’re speaking of since marriage traditions have changed many times over the centuries.
•    The one from Book of Genesis when family values meant polygamy and concubines?
•    Or the marriages of the Middle Ages when women were traded like cattle by their fathers and weddings were too bawdy for church?
•    Or the traditions of 1850 when marriage was customarily between one man and one woman-or-girl of age 11 and up? Today we call that pedophilia.
•    Or are we really seeking to protect a more modern vision of traditional marriage, say from the 1950s when it was illegal for whites to wed blacks or Hispanics?
•    Or the traditional marriage of the late 1960s when couples were routinely excommunicated for marrying outside their faith?
In 1530, Martin Luther wrote on page one of his publication “Von den Ehesachen”: “No one indeed can deny that marriage is an external worldly thing, like clothes and food, house and home, subject to worldly authority, as shown by so many imperial laws governing it.”
The truth is that marriage has always been more a secular tradition than a religious one. It’s time to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

Letter to the editor responding to calls to defund Planned Parenthood

In his letter “Planned Parenthood should not receive taxpayer money” Robert Cornwell urges defunding Planned Parenthood because they offer safe, legal medical procedures. Apparently Mr. Cornwell either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that Planned Parenthood provides a wide range of reproductive health services to women who would otherwise have no such care at all.

Planned Parenthood programs help to prevent nearly one million unintended pregnancies each year, almost half of which would otherwise end in abortion.  For every public dollar invested in family planning, $3.74 is saved in Medicaid-related costs. That’s savings to both federal and state governments.

Planned Parenthood and similar programs provide lifesaving and preventive care to millions of women. In 2009 alone they performed 2.2 million Pap tests and 2.3 million breast exams. If Mr. Cornwell gets his way more women will experience unintended pregnancies and face potentially life-threatening cancer and other diseases that could have been prevented.

According to a January 2011 CBS/New York Times survey found that by a margin of 67 percent to 27 percent, Americans oppose cuts for health care and education as a means of reducing the deficit.

Finally, the undercover videotape session Mr. Cornwell refers to was produced by a group that even Glenn Beck doesn’t find credible so consider the source before passing judgment.

Letter to Representative Kuempel debunking the myth that school district administrative staffs have "exploded over the last decade"

Representative John Kuempel
P.O. Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768
Fax 512-480-0391

Dear Representative Kuempel,

Thank you for taking the time to meet with our group from Guadalupe County Monday. We appreciate hearing directly from you what is happening in the legislature regarding education funding and the state budget. You mentioned that one of the things that school districts needed to do was to reduce administrative positions because “the percentage of administrators vs classroom teachers has exploded over the last decade.” You’ve been misinformed, the Texas Education Agency’s Academic Excellence Indicator System shows both the percentage of teachers and administrators have changed less than one percent in the last decade. I urge you to confirm the information provided below and not repeat that myth so you aren’t accused of misleading your constituents.

Source: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/2000/state.html

Source: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/2009/state.html

In closing I will reiterate our desire to see education funding equal the last biennium and total use of the Rainy Day Fund. As a native of South Louisiana who has lived through my share of hurricanes, if it isn’t raining now then I don’t know what a Texas hurricane would look like.

GOP mess in Texas - published in the Seguin Gazette

The Texas Education Agency projected in their February 22, 2011 report that due to cuts in state funding for education Guadalupe County will lose about $9.5 million for fiscal year 2012. These funding cuts will translate into the loss of 237 school district employees in Guadalupe based on the average Texas school employee salary. Even worse than that is the projected economic impact on the private sector where the Center for Public Policy Priorities reports an expected loss of 331 jobs in Guadalupe. That means nearly 570 more Guadalupe residents unemployed.

While many believe that this is all due to a bad economy a little research will show you that in reality our governor and the Republican controlled legislature have created this fiscal disaster.

They've cut taxes on the rich and covered the budget shortfall by raiding dedicated funds like the gas tax which is supposed to pay for roads and bridges but has instead been dropped into the general fund. Now that the dedicated fund is essentially broke Gov. Perry wants to toll every road in sight.

To recap our Governor and his Republican colleagues in the state legislature have given away the store and now they're willing to force the county to cut over 237 school teachers, bus drivers and cafeteria workers as well as let our roads and bridges crumble all in the name of lower taxes for a few rich friends.

I wonder how many of those unemployed teachers will lose their homes to foreclosure.

Texas Republican's budget to cause tens of thousands of teacher layoffs

Nearly 2800 Guadalupe and Comal employees are about to lose their jobs. The Texas Education Agency projected in their February 22, 2011 report that due to cuts in state funding for education Comal County and Guadalupe County will lose about $47 million for fiscal year 2012. These funding cuts will translate into the loss of nearly 1150 school district employees based on the average Texas school employee salary. Even worse than that is the projected economic impact on the private sector where the Center for Public Policy Priorities reports an expected loss of 1630 employees.

While many believe that this is all due to a bad economy a little research will show you that in reality our Governor and the Republican controlled legislature have created this fiscal disaster. They’ve cut taxes on the rich and covered the budget shortfall by raiding dedicated funds like the gas tax which is supposed to pay for roads and bridges but has instead been dropped into the general fund. Now that the dedicated fund is essentially broke Gov. Perry wants to toll every road in sight.

To recap our Governor and his Republican colleagues in the state legislature have given away the store and now they’re willing to force the counties to cut over 1150 school teachers, bus drivers and cafeteria workers as well as let our roads and bridges crumble all in the name of lower taxes for a few rich friends.

I wonder how many of those unemployed teachers will lose their homes to foreclosure.