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TexasTowelie's JournalAir Force general lost job over ethnic slur
A two-star general resigned his command in San Antonio last week after making a racially-charged comment during a lower-ranking officer's disciplinary hearing, the Air Force said Monday.
Maj. Gen. Michael Keltz, then commander of the 19th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, told an accused officer that he appeared “drunker than 10,000 Indians” in a photo of him and another airman. The Air Force confirmed that Keltz made the remark, which initially was reported in a blog.
“I’ll confirm those were the words spoken,” said Col. Sean McKenna, chief spokesman for the Air Education and Training Command. “I just can’t confirm what happened in the Article 15 (disciplinary) hearing.”
The AETC, the parent organization of the 19th Air Force, said last week Keltz resigned after he “inadvertently made an unfortunate comment” during the hearing.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Air-Force-general-lost-job-over-ethnic-slur-6241570.php
Georgetown mayor: I’m not embarrassed about bathroom video
Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross said Monday he believes in open and transparent government.
“Recently, I showed I believed in it,” said Ross, who forgot to turn off his microphone when he took a bathroom break during a Georgetown City Council meeting Tuesday.
A popular video shows Council Member Rachael Jonrowe laughing uncontrollably when she heard the mayor in the restroom while she was trying to discuss infectious diseases.
Ross said Monday he was surprised about the video’s popularity but not “particularly” embarrassed. “I think the average person can relate to this, that even the mayor — when nature calls — has to go,” he said, laughing.
Read more and watch the video: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/georgetown-mayor-im-not-embarrassed-about-bathroom/nk8ZK/
Judge puts Energy Future’s bankruptcy plan on hold
A U.S. bankruptcy judge put Energy Future Holdings’ restructuring plan on hold Monday, giving creditors more time to work on an alternative strategy to conclude the Texas electricity giant’s $42 billion bankruptcy case.
During a hearing in Wilmington, Del., Judge Christopher Sontchi said he would reconsider the company’s request to move forward with scheduling in late June.
“It has been the case to dual track multiple things, and it has been challenging and time consuming. We have an opportunity here, with mediation and also with active exploration of an alternative transaction to appropriately focus on those issues more directly,” he said.
The ruling comes a little more than a year into what is one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history, pitting some of Wall Street’s biggest names against each other. In 2007 private equity firms KKR & Co. and TPG paid $40 billion to take over the former TXU Corp. through a leveraged buyout, betting that Texas power prices were poised to rise. They were wrong. Since 2007 wholesale power prices in Texas have plummeted as cheap natural gas and wind power flooded the state’s electricity market.
Read more: http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2015/05/judge-delays-energy-futures-bankruptcy-plan.html/
Hillary Clinton agrees to testify this month on Benghazi, emails
Source: AP
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton is willing to testify on Capitol Hill later this month about the attacks in Benghazi, Libya, and about her email practices during her tenure as secretary of state, her attorney told lawmakers in a letter Monday.
But lawyer David Kendall said the Democratic presidential candidate would testify only for one session the week of May 18 or later, not twice as requested by Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., chairman of the special panel investigating the September 2012 attacks that killed four Americans at the U.S. outpost in Libya.
Gowdy had requested one hearing to focus on Clinton’s use of private emails, and a separate session on Benghazi.
Kendall said that Clinton would answer all lawmakers’ questions during one session and it would not be necessary for her to appear twice.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/national-politics/20150504-hillary-clinton-agrees-to-testify-this-month-on-benghazi-emails.ece
Small West Texas High School Sees Chlamydia Outbreak
An outbreak of chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease, has been reported at a small West Texas high school.
KOSA-TV of Odessa and Midland reports the Crane Independent School District sent a letter last week to parents of Crane High School students informing them that 20 cases of chlamydia had been confirmed at the school. Crane High School has an enrollment of about 300 students.
State health officials had notified the district of a significant number of chlamydia cases reported in Crane County and adjacent Upton County. District officials plan meet with the school's advisory committee of teachers, parents and school officials to discuss the situation Monday.
Chlamydia is curable, but if left untreated can cause permanent damage to women's reproductive systems.
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Small-West-Texas-High-School-Sees-Chlamydia-Outbreak-302305561.html?_osource=outbrain_recirc=obinsite
The Good News About Healthcare In Texas For Everyone But Republicans
How far we’ve fallen. But first the good news. Uninsured rates plunge across Texas.
The decline, to 16.9 percent from 24.6 percent, represents a reduction of nearly a third between September 2013 and March 2015, according to findings by the Episcopal Health Foundation and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
“This is a dramatic drop that’s unprecedented in Texas,” said Elena Marks, president and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation and a health policy scholar at the Baker Institute. “It shouldn’t surprise me because this is what was supposed to happen. But considering the weak performance of the rollout of Healthcare.gov and the persistent drumbeat against the Affordable Care Act, I am pleasantly surprised.”
Certainly that’s good news, but let’s remember it could be better.
As of March, Texans earning the lowest incomes remain almost four times more likely to be to be uninsured than higher-income residents.
This coverage gap has grown since 2013 because, under the Affordable Care Act, households above an established threshold can buy health insurance using subsidies and those below it were supposed to be picked up by an expansion of the Medicaid program, said Vivian Ho, chair in health economics at the Baker Institute and a Rice professor of economics. She co-authored the report.
Texas is one of 21 states whose leaders chose not to expand Medicaid coverage.
“Texas’ decision not to expand Medicaid leaves those at the lowest income levels with few coverage options,” the report said. The study further concluded that unless the state reverses its decision or finds another way to get coverage for the poor, they “are likely to remain uninsured.”
The 31 percent decrease in the rate of the uninsured in Texas is similar to drops in other states that did not expand Medicaid coverage, the report said. But it remains lower than the nation, which as a whole saw a 41 decrease, and “well below the rate of change for states that expanded Medicaid,” the report said. Those states had a 53 percent average reduction in the number of uninsured.
Read more: http://eyeonwilliamson.org/?p=14646
Texas Lege: Educational Entrepreneurs Rescue Texas Children From Godlessness, For A Price
By Carol MorganElections have consequences and unfortunately those consequences are leading to the death knell for Texas’ public education system. Texans have thrown away their right to a public education system (which is guaranteed by the Texas Constitution) because they elected fools and charlatans like Dan Patrick, Donna Campbell, and Larry Taylor to the Texas Senate.
These three political prostitutes got where they are today through the love and determination of a teacher and free public schools. How dare they criticize the institution that bestowed the opportunities they enjoy today! They should be thanking teachers rather than criticizing and belittling with the words “godless” and “monstrosity”.
Even our local conservative representatives, Senator Charles Perry (who voted for the Senate voucher measures) and Representative Dustin Burrows (who voted against the Pre-K bill) are joining the “kill public education” movement.
I take great offense to the “godless” education remark and so did our LISD Board of Trustees. Thank you, Dan Pope! There have been a couple of Texas pastors, Charles Foster Johnson (the former pastor of Lubbock’s Second Baptist Church) who didn’t like it either. He took to the {Austin American-}Statesman to call out the lies that conservatives are pedaling:
“Pastors for Texas Children are compelled to strenuously confront this lie. As ministers and faith leaders mobilizing in support of our neighborhood and community schools, we have been silent too long while those purporting to speak for God demean, belittle and slander Texas teachers as “Godless. This could not be further from the truth.”
In another piece by Pastor Kyle Henderson, he defended teachers and remarked about his loss of confidence in our state lawmakers. He remarked that as he set through the school hearings his “rose-colored” glasses were smashed. He thought legislators were supposed to help and they weren’t helping, but demonizing public education in order to implement vouchers.
If men of God are supporting our public schools, how can our schools be Godless?
Some children might not know Divine Love (sans the religious rhetoric and honor badges) without the love and care of a teacher or counselor in Texas’ public schools. A selfless attitude of service needs no words nor rhetoric. Divine Love is modeled in our schools, rather than bragged about. I’ve seen teachers who’ve cared for their students as much as they would for their own sons and daughters.
Conservatives Senators and House members keep chanting, “Texas’ Failing Schools, Texas’ Failing Schools” like obedient monks in an ashram, but hard data shows that the voucher mantra is a lie fabricated by their wealthy donors (the liars who are on Dan Patrick’s “advisory” board).
Around 8.2 percent of public school campuses are classified as failing, but nearly 17 percent of charter schools are designated as failing. In fact, within three years of being included on the low-performing list, only seven out of approximately 8,500 traditional public schools are still designated as failing. If you are mathematically inclined, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of all Texas public school campuses are rated IR or AU for more than three years.
Do we have any data about private religious schools that are failing? Shhh….it’s a big secret since they have little oversight and are exempt from any state regulations such as class size, curriculum, or teacher qualifications.
Texas’ failing schools are more a metric of child poverty than a black mark against public education. Texas has the lion’s share of children in poverty: 25% according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. Years and years of research shows that socioeconomic level is STILL the best predictor of academic success.
With that in mind, Texas’ schools are doing pretty well, considering they have no choice in who enters the building, unlike private schools which have an admissions’ selection process and a trial probation for six weeks or more. Public education doesn’t enjoy that luxury.
And just think…all of this was accomplished with precious little help from the Texas Legislature as shown by the fact that Texas is 46th in educational funding. Our state lawmakers would rather give a tax cut to business than fund our schools. Lawmakers brag about the Texas economy, but would never think of parting with the money to prepare the future workers of Texas.
All of this nonsense going on in the brazen-{filtered word}-show in Austin makes it clear what our lawmakers (and their campaign donors) value—eloquent speeches and memos are completely unnecessary.
That tired overused conservative line, “We shouldn’t throw money at the problem”? How would we know if that’s true or not? Texas has NEVER adequately funded public education; we’ve wasted more money on educational reforms, the conservative code-phrase for allowing educational entrepreneurs to mine public education with the intention of increasing their personal wealth.
Didn’t Texans learn a lesson from the Governor Bush-Sandy-Kress-Pearson-lovefest in the late nineties?
Teachers must start to think and act politically. The survival of your profession depends on it. Educators could be the largest voting bloc in the state if they awakened from their political illiteracy. If Dan Patrick’s advisory groups have their way, Texas children attending public schools will soon be a small minority.
Educational entrepreneurs fear a teacher awakening. North Carolina, whose public education has been decimated and corrupted by the voucher system, is contemplating a law that prohibits political activism by educators. Teachers are organizing, but it’s too little, too late. And please don’t tell me it can’t happen here.
If we allow the extreme right to take over our schools, they won’t be satisfied. Next year, it will be a demand for a state check to homeschooling parents. These people won’t be satisfied until they have completely dismantled public education and we go back to the days of the one room school house.
Plain and simple, vouchers are bad for these reasons:
1. Vouchers fragment the Texas population along religious, political, ideological, class, ethnic and other boundaries. We would be re-living Jim Crow all over again.
2. Vouchers violate the Texas constitution (Article 1,sections 6,7; Article V11, Section 5)
3. Vouchers violate taxpayer's religious freedom by forcing them to bankroll religious teaching that might be in opposition to their own.
4. Vouchers will undermine the teaching profession and make it less attractive and low-paying. Many private schools do not require teacher certification. Parents often barter teaching services to pay for their child’s tuition.
My fear is that Texans are complacent and blind to the unintended consequences of the Texas Legislature’s extreme educational bills and will awaken when it’s over. By then, the conservative mindset will rule everything and our school systems resemble something like the Amish (who only educate until grade 8) or Afghanistan, where education is forbidden for females.
_________
Carol Morgan is a career/college counselor, a freelance writer, and former Democratic candidate for the Texas House. She is the award-winning author of two books: Of Tapestry, Time and Tears and Liberal in Lubbock. Email Carol at elizabethcmorgan@sbcglobal.net , follow her on Twitter and on Facebook or visit her writer’s blog at www.carolmorgan.org
http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/carol-morgan/2015-05-03/texas-lege-educational-entrepreneurs-rescue-texas#.VUcAB5Py3SI
Permission granted to post Carol's blog in its entirety.
America’s Police Will Fight the Next Riot With These Stink Bombs
As protestors and police officers clash on the streets of Baltimore and other divided cities, some police departments are stockpiling a highly controversial weapon to control civil unrest.
It’s called Skunk, a type of “malodorant,” or in plainer language, a foul-smelling liquid. Technically nontoxic but incredibly disgusting, it has been described as a cross between “dead animal and human excrement.” Untreated, the smell lingers for weeks.
The Israeli Defense Forces developed Skunk in 2008 as a crowd-control weapon for use against Palestinians. Now Mistral, a company out of Bethesda, Md., says they are providing it to police departments in the United States.
Skunk is composed of a combination of baking soda and amino acids, Mistral general manager Stephen Rust said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Armament Systems Forum on April 20. “You can drink it, but you wouldn’t want to,” said Rust, a retired U.S. Army project manager.
Read more: http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/04/americas-police-will-fight-next-riot-these-stink-bombs/111430/?oref=d-mostread
6 people shot outside Houston nightclub
Six people were injured in a shooting outside a Midtown club early Sunday morning.
According to Houston police, an argument between two groups broke out inside Club Empire earlier Saturday night. Around 1 a.m., one group was standing outside the club, when the other group drove by and opened fire on the first group.
The victims were transported to area hospitals with minor injuries and were in stable condition.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/local/article/Six-people-shot-outside-nightclub-6239232.php
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
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