The Republican leadership of Texas continues to act just as what they are–Hypocrites, with a capital “H.” Recently, Attorney General Abbott and Senator Cronyn were beating their chests claiming they have protected the children of Texas because they have raised the penalties against people who abuse children. That’s all well and good, but penalties are imposed on abusers of children after the fact. It does very little for most of the children in the state of Texas.
On the other hand, Cornyn, Abbott, Perry and others do not seem concerned at all that Texas has more children without adequate health care protection than any other state in the union. Texas has more children living in poverty than any other state in the union.
As I’ve said many times before, these great Republican leaders seem to care greatly for the unborn child, throwing roadblock after roadblock against abortions that our Supreme Court has deemed legal. At the same time, they appear to give little concern, certainly almost no action, to the lot of the children who are already born.
In the wake of recent mass murders, Republicans deny that loose gun laws pose any problem. They are quick to blame mental health as the root cause. These same Republicans however are the very folks responsible for starving mental health programs of funding. In fact, Texas is a prime example of spending more on prisons and less on programs to prevent crimes!
Even more hypocritical are the mental health 'blamers' who refuse to close loopholes in background checks which would allow finding those with mental health problems.
Further evidence of the hypocrisy of our Republican leadership and the majority of the Republicans in our Legislature is that we continue to hear that Medicaid--which offers medical assistance to the elderly and poor--, food stamps and unemployment benefits are a ruination to the state...that they cause people to land in a hammock rather than a safety net. However, while condemning the so-called welfare to the poor, elderly and needy, Texas has gone headlong into subsidies for the very rich, who obviously are not in great need. A recent study noted by the New York Times and the Dallas Observer, as well as earlier reports in the Houston Chronicle, revealed Texas government gives away approximately 19 billion dollars every year to corporations in the form of benefits. These include tax abatements as well as direct subsidies to large gas companies, whose profits are at an all-time high. It also takes into account the 300 million dollar slush fund which Governor Perry insisted on having at his disposal while we were cutting funds to education by 5 billion dollars.
Recent examinations of the science companies and start-up businesses subsidy programs insisted on by our governor have revealed a substantial number of them have gone bankrupt or out of business. And study has revealed that another large number of these companies have failed to meet the promised quotas of employees who, they represented, would be on the payroll to help lower unemployment in Texas.
So, the next time your state representative or state senator starts carping about the welfare state in the United States, remind him or her about the fact that Texas gives away almost 1/4th of the big, corporate welfare sops given in the United States–more than any other state in the union. Business lobbyists for special interests may call it creating a good business climate in Texas. I call it a big corporate welfare give-away.
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ReplyDeleteThere was an incorrect cite...preferred to edit and repost my comment below...read on...
DeleteWell. 'Hard to know the extent of our reach some days, but today we are famous. 'Been written up by somebody named Klein in his odd assortment of opinions called 'Southeast Texas Political Review.' And he has the gall to call me an "old school teacher" posing as Sen. Parker's "ghost writer." To wit: So we here at the Review say a few things - first Parker needs to cut that out or write it himself. It is that simple. Be Carl Parker - not Terry Heller pretending to be Carl Parker.
ReplyDeleteI don't know whether to fry or cry.
If you'd like to read some first rate balderdash, go here: http://www.setpoliticalreview.com/topstory.htm ... and while you're at it, please notice he needs an editor. I'm not volunteering.
He does not provide for comment on whatever that is that he posts...and I don't wonder why. So I'll comment here since, by God, he trashed this particular blog post, and I've got a comment.
Anyone who knows Parker knows NOBODY could ever speak, write, sing or otherwise utter ANYTHING for the Senator... much less try to put words in his mouth. He has his own words, and says them very well all by himself. Were anyone foolish enough to try to speak for the Senator they would suffer a slow painful death by tongue lashing. All I do is edit this thing. I put periods where they belong, and find links, and hunt down images to illustrate whatever Parker writes about.
But Yoyo Klein would've known that Parker was writing his own stuff if he only took the time to read Parker's column in the Beaumont Examiner--which he says he reads. Really? It's the same article. I just post the columns for him here on his blog.
And there you go.