I exploded this morning when I heard Joe Scarborough ask Politico’s Mike Allen what was wrong with showing a picture ID before voting. Mike Allen had that scared look on his face because he knew that he was in the middle of a partisan political statement. Joe Scarborough went on a rant saying that liberal columnists have tagged the governors of Texas and North Carolina as racist just for requiring a picture ID. He said that the writers tactically put a white hood over those governors. Mike Allen tried to say that they were other issues, but Joe would have none of it because he wanted someone to tell them what was wrong with a picture ID. His co- host Mika Brzezinski agreed with Joe saying that he had a legitimate complaint.
About 30 minutes passed when the director on the show informed Joe Scarborough that he had received several tweets condemning Joe for misrepresenting the voter ID issue. If Joe Scarborough had read the New York Times article, (and I suspect he did), then he knew he intentionally left out the facts that made this new law controversial. He didn’t mention early voting had been lessened, certain types of picture IDs were no longer accepted, the hardships that came with the new requirements (especially democratic voters) voter fraud is almost non-existent, and most of the fraud comes from mail in ballots(a GOP favorite way of voting) which do not require a voter picture ID. Joe Scarborough sheepishly said perhaps there’s more to this but it doesn’t excuse is the obvious attempt to get away with something that wasn’t true. Some might have called those governors racists; I don’t know, but it’s obvious that they are going after minorities who usually vote for Democrats. I think it’s political because given a chance, the Democrats would gerrymander the districts to their wants but there’s not much else they could do to suppress GOP votes.
Joe Scarborough tried to make the same point about the Texas ban on abortion after 20 weeks not too long ago. He intentionally left out the closing of the Planned Parenthood clinics. That particular morning he was surrounded by Democrats, so he didn’t get away with his tactic of emphasizing what he thought was reasonable and ignoring the real intent of the controversial law.
We are getting closer to the day when using television as a means to instantly spread falsehoods will be difficult because I vision a crawler at the bottom of the screen being used as an instant fact checker.Twitter can serve that purpose but it hasn't been incorporated yet. Then again,the RNC is using Twitter to jam the server with anti-Obamacare articles.
Tomorrow’s blog might be my last for a while because I’m going to have rotator-cuff surgery Wednesday. My left arm will be a sling for six weeks, but we’ll see how it goes. I’ve used voice-recognition software before so not being able to use my left hand for typing shouldn’t be that much of a hindrance. I will probably have to use my iPad, so I won’t have all the tools for desktop publishing, so I’ll limit myself to short blogs. Writing will be therapy because I’m certainly not going to sit around and watch television all day long. If you’ve had rotator-cuff surgery or know someone that has, please share that experience because even though it’s day surgery, I’m not looking forward to the pain and misery afterwards.
I’ve read BigJ’s blog where he agreed with a poster that placed the blame of our education woes entirely on liberals. I’ll probably use that topic as the next subject matter for one of my next blogs. I did a little research into the subject but all I could find was that conservatives don’t like the all- out support liberals give to public education. I did read some blogs at the National Review that blame the liberals for our education downfall, but it all had to do with social issues. I’ll have plenty of time to research this matter.
11 comments:
It has to be difficult being a libertarian because every law or ruling is an affront on their personal liberties.
For example, the burn ban upset Goliad County Commissioner Long equated the burn ban to the one on guns…. Victoria County has a responsibility to inform their residents of the burn ban and water shortage. They can’t around making exceptions for people who think that a fire can never get away from them… I’ve burned brush before, so I know that a tiny spark can ignite a fire elsewhere, so it’s best to exercise caution when conditions warrant it.
The other example is adopting a historic preservation program…. I remember receiving a homestead residential exemption, so I don’t see the problem with trying to give incentives to those who at who have historic homes and want to renovate. …. I don’t believe that exception should apply to all homes that want to renovate because the owners can recoup their costs when they sell the home because it is now more valuable…. If those owners use energy-efficient materials or equipment, they might be able to recoup some of their cost on their Federal tax return. If they were to install an elevator in their house for medical reasons, there would be eligible to deduct that medical expense on their Federal return.
Just going to wish you a speedy recovery, because I'm going to miss reading your blog everyday.
Thank you very much for the speedy recovery and I'll be (I hope) in a few days...:-)
First--Warm wishes for a speedy recovery! I know all will go well.
Let's talk about the incentive for preserving an old home. I am not sure I can agree with a tax abatement kind of thing for those who want to preserve these old homes. They are lovely and neat to live in, but they can be money pits. If there is grant money from historical societies or preservation groups--no problem. But more often than not, folks are held to a restoration that beings the dwelling almost back to original. That means high-efficiency and energy efficiency stuff is out of the question, so there goes the IRS gift for the owner. It's a hard thing to do unless you have a lot of money.
I don't want to see the city of Victoria in the architectural preservation business. Let private money or grant money do it.
Oops,I must have led you astray but I was separating the tax breaks for historical homes from the non-historical. I knew the historical homes would be restored as close to its original state.
I think the city getting into the architectural preservation business is an exaggeration because restoring Victoria can be a wise use of money if the city can afford it.
According to Advocate
"It's to provide a mechanism that might help preserve some of the more historic structures in Victoria," Halepaska said.
The program would provide a 50/50 match up to $20,000 for facade restoration or other improvements.
To qualify for the program, properties must be listed on the Historic Resources Survey of Victoria or have been constructed at least 50 years before the application date.
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There you have it.....IMO...I have fond memories of my home town and it would please me if we used a little money from the city taxpayers to keep a small part of it.
Thanks for the well wishes...
You happy with the streets in your neighborhood?
The city can't afford it.
And I know for a fact I didn't make myself clear. Just because a ratty old building over 50 years old, does not mean everyone (read Gary Dunham)needs to get their knickers in a twist to save the old building. If we could be sensible, perhaps every 10 years or so the city could be in the building rehab assistance business.
I really wish they would raise the qualification age to 75 year old homes and I would have a smart cookie like you be the historic officer in charge of the applications.
Of course input from the city comptroller on the feasibility of the abatement is a must.
I read how other cities like San Antonio and Austin are managing their historic homes renovations and the proposal that was suggested is in line with theirs...I don't think it's a matter of choosing current maintenance budgets and that for a new historic bldg. fund.
It probably won't pass and I can live with that but to answer your question,I'm content with the streets in my neighborhood.
I listen to cars bottom out at my intersection all day long and I can hardly drive on Palmwood! It is like a roller coaster!
Are SA and Austin financing these preservations with public money completely? Victoria would have had some money, perhaps, to follow suit if they had done what they said they were going to do with the sales tax money. When the citizens voted to create the Sales Tax Development Corp., the quarter cent they were going to collect was specifically to be used for infrastructure. That is what the voters were told and what they presumably voted for. What they did was buy the Lone Tree land that was eventually given to Cat. It sat for 10 years before Cat got it, but nonetheless, the collected dollars were not used for the original, intended purpose.
We have a sewer plant to buy. We have streets that are buckling. We have old abandoned buildings. And we don't necessarily have our priorities identified. Where does the replacement for the Gary T. Moses pool fit in? That is somewhere between 2-5 million.
I don't know about the city taking on new projects. There are other places to find that money, I think.
Don't forget the Laurent and Sam Houston street project... I ride the whole Tanglewood area without finding anything that bad...perhaps you need to slow down...:-)
As I said the city has good people who calculate the affordability of the new expenditure and new revenues,paying for bonds,interest and paid off debts will all factor in the calculations.
The priority of San Antonio and Austin was to preserve their historical past which is very important to those two cities because they are not only the bedrock of our history;they rely on on tourism dollars...but then again they are progressive cities.
Your last comment says it best. As to Gilbert Reyna, the city finance guy--he is excellent at what he does. But he can only tell the city management and council what they can do; they choose to follow his advice or not. And that is not Gilbert's fault. He tries!
Near the intersection of Rosewood and Palmwood (if you travel that intersection) has a dip so deep that it has gouges in the road from car noses scraping. You do not even have to be hardly moving! But, enough about our roads!
Speedy recovery!!!
Not to beleaguer the point (but we always do) but I just saw a UPS truck bouncing up and down at the intersection of Rosewood and Palmwood but he was going more than 20 MPH.
It would be a major undertaking to fix the uneven payment… Using my highway department experience, the whole road would have to be dug up down to the base and redone. Since it’s residential area anyway, it’s better just to be aware of the circumstances and slow down.
Anyway, I just said it wouldn’t anger me if the city used a very small budgeted portion of the taxpayer funds to help keep some historic buildings in place. It wouldn’t be a priority nor was my $10,000 homestead exemption necessary.
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