The Best Congress Money Can Buy

This is one of those posts that some will read and accuse me of being a Republican.

No, I'm the guy in the middle point fingers in both directions.

Before the Democrats took control, the party of Democracy swore to reduce the influence of lobbyists.

According to a recent ABC News report, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi vowed to fix the culture of corruption where access to congress is for sale.

Just last week, Speaker Pelosi held a fundraising dinner where guests paid from $10-thousnd to $28-thousand to attend according to the ABC report.

Does this make the Democrats hypocrites?

Probably so, but not more than the Republicans.

Political parties are partisan organizations that have survival as an unspoken main goal.

What I find frustrating is that anyone who is a true independent will always get the worst of both worlds.

The Republicans will accuse you of being a Democrat... the Democrats will accuse you of being a Republican.

It would seem that most people have a self-centered point of view.

The majority on the left actually believe they are in the center.

The same is true of most of those on the Right.

Here is an example of this...

Those who watch Fox News say the network is fair and balanced....even though the talk show hosts are usually on the Right side of everything.
This is the Republican idea of "just the facts" television.

Those who watch CNN say this is the "real" news channel... even though the talk show hosts are usually on the Left side of everything.
I know this is not a popular idea, but we seem to be on the left side of the pendulum swing right now.

CNN tends to be the Democrat idea of the "just the facts" news channel.
So where is all of this leading?

Everyone seems to be so worried about their party losing power.

The majority of party members make up the rules as they go... changing standards as often as I change my socks...all in an effort to keep their man or woman in power... but in the end, giving politicians license to do just about anything because they are in this party or that party.

I'm not against political parties.

I like the idea of people standing up for principals, but Americans seem to be happy with people who say the right things no matter what they are actually doing.

What is the end result?

We ask for party "A" or party "B" to get rid of the influence of money on our lawmakers, but we ignore the problem in "our" party and end up with the best congress money can buy.

Could it happen here?

The big story this week is the shooting at Virginia Tech.

Every way in which this story could be covered, is being covered…
+ How did he do it?
+ Why did he do it?
+ Internet blogs reaction.
+ Gun Control
+ Campus Security
+ On and on it goes.

Among all the stories, the most useless line is one that I saw several local news agencies use early in the coverage.

Could it happen here?

Why even bother asking the question?

Could it happen here?

Yes!

The answer is always yes!

This is not news because the answer is already known.

Deadly attack, could it happen here? Yes!
Terrorist attack, could it happen here? Yes!
Rabid monkeys attack nun, could it happen here? Yes!

This is the same question I’ve seen pop up over and over at times of major tragedy.

Really, it takes no imagination to ask a question like this.

This is something the news consumer already knows without seeing, reading or hearing through the media.

A better question would be; "what is being done to prevent it from happening here?"... what ever the “it” is.

Answer this question and you are telling the news consumer something he or she may not know.
I think every news person has a pet peeve.

This is one of mine.

It usually leaves me asking, “Eye catching headline, could it happen here?”

Where’s Mom & Dad?

Beaumont lawmen are looking for a 15-year-old killer.

There is something about this story that really bothers me…the part about the triggerman being a 15-year-old boy.

What the hell is a 15-year-old doing with a gun?

I know if I ask this question of some people, they would respond by saying it's the 2000's, grow up, that's the way things are now.

Others might say, he's a thug, don't worry about him, send him to the chair.

Hello?

He's 15!

How does a 15-year-old do something like this?

Where does a 15-year-old get a gun?

• This kid is not old enough to buy a beer.


• If he has sex with someone a few years older than he, the girl would face prison.


• He could only drive a car with an "adult" in the passenger seat.

Bottom line, the law says he is not old enough to make decisions for himself.

If he would have taken cash from someone, wouldn't his parents be responsible to make sure he paid the money back?

I have to dare ask a few questions.

Should his parents bare some of the responsibility in this matter?


Did they see anything that would indicate that their kid could end up doing something like this?

Where were mom and dad when the kid was forming his values?

It's hard to believe a young teen could reach this point and the parents not notice that their kid has a problem.

I'm tired of hearing the excuse, "..that's the ghetto... that's a high-crime area... that's a problem among poor kids who don't give a damn..." etc.

I think this is an area some of the left-winged radicals could learn a lesson from the right-wing extremists.

Quit making excuses for "artists" that give young kids a constant barrage of attitude-laced "kill the MF" type lyrics.

Quit giving honor to thugs in the entertainment industry under the guise of respecting a culture.

I'm not suggesting that a kid is going to hear one song about killing someone and immediately run out and do someone in.

I am suggesting that a young person who grows up listening to thug music on a daily basis... then plays street-violence-based video games for hours.... that spends his young-teen years watching movies that glorify a gangster-like lifestyle.... is being set up for failure.

By the way, this isn't a racial thing!
There are white, black, Hispanic and Asian kids who begin life this way.

These kids should not be excused for their crime; they need to be punished like anyone else who commits a crime.

But how about some of the adults who let children grow up like this.

Don't blame the single mom who is overwhelmed and tries but fails to keep her kids out of trouble.

At least she is trying.

Let's blame the moms and dads who teach their kids this lifestyle. Some kids are just imitating dear ole daddy.

Let's blame the moms and dads who see their kids growing more and more violent and do nothing about it.

There is no single answer that would magically wipe away teen violence.

Sure, this could be a case of a kid who simply went off the deep end.

But as often as I see kids doing very adult crimes, I cannot believe that there are that many kids who are naturally born criminals.

I really believe there are a lot of adults who are simply naturally stupid parents.

What has happened to SETX Democracy?

This area is known as a Democratic stronghold.

That statement really shouldn’t require explanation to anyone who has lived in southeast Texas for any length of time.

Our people love the thought of democracy… and the idea that the majority rules.

But do we really LIVE by the ideas we proclaim?

I don’t believe that we really trust the majority of our neighbors.

Here are a few examples:

In the last city election, voters in Port Arthur Port Arthur passed term limits.

Some say this was a way to recall Oscar Ortiz without actually recalling him.

What happened to the majority rule?

If the majority wants to keep him, what’s the problem?

How about the Port Arthur school board?

The state doesn’t trust the majority rule in our area when it comes to trustees.

The Port Arthur school board had an outsider sent to call the shots (or at least that was the appearance.)

This is not “pick-on-Port-Arthur Day,” but there are a lot of good examples of majority fear in south Jefferson County.

Let’s head to Beaumont.

It’s my observation that the city leaders did not want to risk letting the “majority-rule” when it came to passing a smoking ordinance.

There sure seemed to be a lot of hesitation to put the item on the ballot.

In the end, voters had no say-so in the matter.

Will the fire truck staffing issue ever be put before the voters?

I doubt it.

We just don’t trust the majority to handle public funds!

In Orange there is an effort that if successful, would allow voters to decide if the annexation of the Little Cypress area should be overturned.

The petitions were signed… over three times the required amount of signatures was collected… and the petition was overturned on a technicality.

Supporters of the petition are now fighting their battle in court.

What has happened to democracy?

I realize that there are a lot of side-issues involved with all of the examples I’ve brought up, but it really seems if you search for a bottom-line, our area doesn’t trust the majority.

As a population, we are schizophrenic.

We preach democracy, but are seem to be happy when a limited number of folks call the shots.

What is reality and what is perception.

Is democracy in southeast Texas a nice dream, a fading reality… or something our grandparents actually had back in “the good ole’ days?”