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The Conflict in the Congo
Conflict in the Congo, Part II
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Climate Change: Chasm Widens Between Science and Policy
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A Human Rights Agenda for the New Administration
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Why Obama is African American, Not Biracial
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Thursday, December 18, 2008
Local News: Grimes County Democratic Chair Apologizes
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Party Chair Apologizes to Election Judges
By Dave Lewis (Examiner Publisher)
From the Navasota Examiner
Some 41 days after the 2008 general election, Grimes County Democratic Party Chair Larry Snook said Monday he could now recommend that the election be certified and apologized “for the problems that were caused by my errors.”
In a special workshop meeting of the Grimes County Commissioners Court, Snook told those present that after meeting with Becky Duff and Jean LeNorman in the County Elections Administration Office, he was satisfied that the numbers were correct in terms of voting machine totals and voter signature sheet totals.
“A lot of the errors that I found the first time through were counting errors on my part,” Snook said. The errors, he added, were a result of misplaced combination forms, the mixing of combination forms from the City of Navasota election and from the courthouse and Navasota early voting not getting into precinct folders. “It was relatively easy to solve these problems and make a good count as soon as we approached them in a cooperative manner,” Snook added.
Even with his apology, many of the election judges and alternates present at Monday’s meeting said they still felt like their integrity had been challenged. “I’m very hurt in the way it was handled,” offered election judge Mary Fontaine.
Snook, who is completing his second two-year term as county Democratic Party chair, initially challenged what he called significant differences in the number of voters shown on machine totals in comparison with voter rolls. Although voter sign-in sheet numbers are not required to match with machine totals, they do serve as an indicator of voter activity in the precinct polling places.
County Republican Chair Malcolm Green said the chief function of the sign-in sheets is to help make sure ineligible persons are not allowed to vote.
“I apologize if some of you felt there were improper accusations,” Snook told the group.
County Judge Betty Shiflett, saying she had complete confidence in the county’s election process, applauded the manner in which the judges conducted the election. “You have done a due-diligence job, and I’m proud of the way you’ve done it. I’m happy we came together, and very confident we’ve come up with the answers to all the questions people had. We’re not afraid to address things that are challenged.”
A Nov. 19 letter from Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Secretary of State Hope Andrade also commended Grimes County’s election administrator for “the integral role you played in running a fair, credible election this November.”
Following the discussions, county commissioners Pam Finke, Julian Melchor and John Bertling agreed that the role of the county elections administration office should be left as it is, although there was no provision for a vote on the matter.
“I was against it at first, but if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” opined Bertling.
Commissioner Bill Pendley was unable to attend the meeting.
Published on Wednesday, October 17, 2008
By Dave Lewis (Examiner Publisher)
From the Navasota Examiner
Some 41 days after the 2008 general election, Grimes County Democratic Party Chair Larry Snook said Monday he could now recommend that the election be certified and apologized “for the problems that were caused by my errors.”
In a special workshop meeting of the Grimes County Commissioners Court, Snook told those present that after meeting with Becky Duff and Jean LeNorman in the County Elections Administration Office, he was satisfied that the numbers were correct in terms of voting machine totals and voter signature sheet totals.
“A lot of the errors that I found the first time through were counting errors on my part,” Snook said. The errors, he added, were a result of misplaced combination forms, the mixing of combination forms from the City of Navasota election and from the courthouse and Navasota early voting not getting into precinct folders. “It was relatively easy to solve these problems and make a good count as soon as we approached them in a cooperative manner,” Snook added.
Even with his apology, many of the election judges and alternates present at Monday’s meeting said they still felt like their integrity had been challenged. “I’m very hurt in the way it was handled,” offered election judge Mary Fontaine.
Snook, who is completing his second two-year term as county Democratic Party chair, initially challenged what he called significant differences in the number of voters shown on machine totals in comparison with voter rolls. Although voter sign-in sheet numbers are not required to match with machine totals, they do serve as an indicator of voter activity in the precinct polling places.
County Republican Chair Malcolm Green said the chief function of the sign-in sheets is to help make sure ineligible persons are not allowed to vote.
“I apologize if some of you felt there were improper accusations,” Snook told the group.
County Judge Betty Shiflett, saying she had complete confidence in the county’s election process, applauded the manner in which the judges conducted the election. “You have done a due-diligence job, and I’m proud of the way you’ve done it. I’m happy we came together, and very confident we’ve come up with the answers to all the questions people had. We’re not afraid to address things that are challenged.”
A Nov. 19 letter from Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Secretary of State Hope Andrade also commended Grimes County’s election administrator for “the integral role you played in running a fair, credible election this November.”
Following the discussions, county commissioners Pam Finke, Julian Melchor and John Bertling agreed that the role of the county elections administration office should be left as it is, although there was no provision for a vote on the matter.
“I was against it at first, but if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” opined Bertling.
Commissioner Bill Pendley was unable to attend the meeting.
Published on Wednesday, October 17, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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Local News: More in Need of Food Stamps in Waco
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30 Percent More McLennan County Residents Getting Food Stamps
By Cindy V. Culp (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
The number of McLennan County residents receiving food stamps is nearly 30 percent higher than it was this time last year — an increase that coincides with record usage nationwide.
The country broke the 30 million mark for food-stamp recipients in September, with 31.6 million people receiving benefits. Before that, the record was 29.85 million people, set in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Part of the current spike can be attributed to devastation from Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav, especially in Texas. But the bigger cause of the high numbers is the troubled economy, experts say.
Speegleville resident Robert Ashcraft said he’s living proof of that. The single father had a job at the local Pilgrim’s Pride plant until the end of October. But he was laid off, he said, when the company hit rocky financial territory, eventually declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Ashcraft, 48, has been unsuccessfully searching for a job ever since. That’s why he recently was at the Waco office that administers food stamps, looking for assistance for himself and his four children.
“I’m doing an emergency application,” Ashcraft said. “We need help.”
Nationwide, 10 percent of people overall and 20 percent of children receive food stamp benefits, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All but two states have seen their enrollment increase over the past year, with Texas being in the top 10 for increased caseloads.
Participation isn’t likely to fall anytime soon, said Stacy Dean, director for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. The single biggest predictor of food-stamp usage is the economy. Until the nation gets out of a recession, the numbers will almost certainly stay high, she said.
That correlates with what workers have seen at Caritas, a Waco relief agency. More people are coming in for food from the pantry. But more people also are inquiring about food stamps, said Esther Morales, director of a program aimed at getting people signed up for benefits. The program, called Helpings, operates out of Caritas.
Until a few months ago, only about 25 percent of people who got food from the pantry asked about food stamps, Morales said. Now, about half do.
“The working poor are a lot of the people we’re helping,” Morales said. “One income is just not making it. Even households with a husband and a wife working aren’t making it.”
Helpings is trying to alert people to recent changes made to the food-stamp program. One is its name. It’s now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
More important, though, are changes in the eligibility criteria, Morales said. As of Oct. 1, people can have more resources and still qualify. If someone has been turned down in the past but still needs help, they should consider reapplying, she said.
Those changes included raising the income limits for the program and making changes in how a family’s income is calculated. As a result, more families are eligible, said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the state’s food-stamp program.
One of the recent changes was that a cap on child care was removed. Similarly, the standard deduction for expenses was increased for households of one to three people, Goodman said.
In general, families must have an income of 130 percent or less of the federal poverty line to qualify for the program. A family of four, for example, could earn up to $2,915 a month and still qualify.
But income is not the sole factor. To determine how much money a family needs for food, the program also looks at expenses such as child care and rent. It then calculates how much money a family has left over after basic expenses and calculates eligibility based on that.
The two groups most likely to qualify but who aren’t receiving food stamps are senior citizens and working-poor families, Dean said. She said people sometimes refrain from applying because they think they would be taking away from others with more dire needs. But that’s not the case, she said.
“This program has enough money for everyone who needs it,” Dean said.
The government says 36.2 million Americans lived in “food-insecure” households last year, meaning they were unsure whether they would be able to get enough food to meet the needs of everyone in their family. For certain groups, the statistics are even more bleak.
Nearly 38 percent of households with incomes below the federal poverty line were food-insecure, as were 30 percent of households headed by single mothers. In Texas, 14.8 percent of the population is food-insecure, according to numbers from the agriculture department.
Waco resident Brian Pankonien, 31, said he does not know how he would eat if it weren’t for food stamps. Health problems prevent him from working, he said, but his disability benefits from the U.S. Social Security Administration have not been finalized. So in the interim, he relies on food stamps, he said.
Pankonien estimated that his benefits cover 75 percent of his grocery bill, and that’s with him being careful with what he purchases, he said. Hot dogs are a staple of his diet. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, he said he often must buy canned or frozen varieties instead of fresh produce.
The key to maximizing benefits, Pankonien said, is experimentation.
“You’ve got to find what’s good if you go cheap with it and what’s not good if you go cheap with it,” he said.
Scarlet Doggett, a 23-year-old Hillsboro resident who gets food stamps, said she hopes the economic downturn makes society more educated about the program. Too many people think it is used only by people who refuse to work, but that’s not the case, she said. She lost her job as a waitress when the restaurant she was working at closed and has not been able to find employment since, she said.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions,” said Doggett, who has a 3-year-old son.
To find out more information about food stamps, visit the Texas Health and Human Services office at 2010 La Salle Ave. in Waco or call it at 752-4839.
Information about food stamps also is available online at Your Texas Benefits.
Published on Wednesday, December 17, 2008
By Cindy V. Culp (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
The number of McLennan County residents receiving food stamps is nearly 30 percent higher than it was this time last year — an increase that coincides with record usage nationwide.
The country broke the 30 million mark for food-stamp recipients in September, with 31.6 million people receiving benefits. Before that, the record was 29.85 million people, set in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Part of the current spike can be attributed to devastation from Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Gustav, especially in Texas. But the bigger cause of the high numbers is the troubled economy, experts say.
Speegleville resident Robert Ashcraft said he’s living proof of that. The single father had a job at the local Pilgrim’s Pride plant until the end of October. But he was laid off, he said, when the company hit rocky financial territory, eventually declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Ashcraft, 48, has been unsuccessfully searching for a job ever since. That’s why he recently was at the Waco office that administers food stamps, looking for assistance for himself and his four children.
“I’m doing an emergency application,” Ashcraft said. “We need help.”
Nationwide, 10 percent of people overall and 20 percent of children receive food stamp benefits, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. All but two states have seen their enrollment increase over the past year, with Texas being in the top 10 for increased caseloads.
Participation isn’t likely to fall anytime soon, said Stacy Dean, director for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. The single biggest predictor of food-stamp usage is the economy. Until the nation gets out of a recession, the numbers will almost certainly stay high, she said.
That correlates with what workers have seen at Caritas, a Waco relief agency. More people are coming in for food from the pantry. But more people also are inquiring about food stamps, said Esther Morales, director of a program aimed at getting people signed up for benefits. The program, called Helpings, operates out of Caritas.
Until a few months ago, only about 25 percent of people who got food from the pantry asked about food stamps, Morales said. Now, about half do.
“The working poor are a lot of the people we’re helping,” Morales said. “One income is just not making it. Even households with a husband and a wife working aren’t making it.”
Helpings is trying to alert people to recent changes made to the food-stamp program. One is its name. It’s now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
More important, though, are changes in the eligibility criteria, Morales said. As of Oct. 1, people can have more resources and still qualify. If someone has been turned down in the past but still needs help, they should consider reapplying, she said.
Those changes included raising the income limits for the program and making changes in how a family’s income is calculated. As a result, more families are eligible, said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees the state’s food-stamp program.
One of the recent changes was that a cap on child care was removed. Similarly, the standard deduction for expenses was increased for households of one to three people, Goodman said.
In general, families must have an income of 130 percent or less of the federal poverty line to qualify for the program. A family of four, for example, could earn up to $2,915 a month and still qualify.
But income is not the sole factor. To determine how much money a family needs for food, the program also looks at expenses such as child care and rent. It then calculates how much money a family has left over after basic expenses and calculates eligibility based on that.
The two groups most likely to qualify but who aren’t receiving food stamps are senior citizens and working-poor families, Dean said. She said people sometimes refrain from applying because they think they would be taking away from others with more dire needs. But that’s not the case, she said.
“This program has enough money for everyone who needs it,” Dean said.
The government says 36.2 million Americans lived in “food-insecure” households last year, meaning they were unsure whether they would be able to get enough food to meet the needs of everyone in their family. For certain groups, the statistics are even more bleak.
Nearly 38 percent of households with incomes below the federal poverty line were food-insecure, as were 30 percent of households headed by single mothers. In Texas, 14.8 percent of the population is food-insecure, according to numbers from the agriculture department.
Waco resident Brian Pankonien, 31, said he does not know how he would eat if it weren’t for food stamps. Health problems prevent him from working, he said, but his disability benefits from the U.S. Social Security Administration have not been finalized. So in the interim, he relies on food stamps, he said.
Pankonien estimated that his benefits cover 75 percent of his grocery bill, and that’s with him being careful with what he purchases, he said. Hot dogs are a staple of his diet. When it comes to fruits and vegetables, he said he often must buy canned or frozen varieties instead of fresh produce.
The key to maximizing benefits, Pankonien said, is experimentation.
“You’ve got to find what’s good if you go cheap with it and what’s not good if you go cheap with it,” he said.
Scarlet Doggett, a 23-year-old Hillsboro resident who gets food stamps, said she hopes the economic downturn makes society more educated about the program. Too many people think it is used only by people who refuse to work, but that’s not the case, she said. She lost her job as a waitress when the restaurant she was working at closed and has not been able to find employment since, she said.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions,” said Doggett, who has a 3-year-old son.
To find out more information about food stamps, visit the Texas Health and Human Services office at 2010 La Salle Ave. in Waco or call it at 752-4839.
Information about food stamps also is available online at Your Texas Benefits.
Published on Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
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Experts Predict a Possible Terrorist Strike with a Nuke by 2013 -- What Can We Do to Stop It?
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As Rain Forests Disappear, A Market Solution Emerges
Economy
Stimulus From Below
Civil Rights
US Supreme Court Orders Review of Guantanamo Torture Case
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Obama's Pick for Education Secretary Backed Chicago Gay School
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The Adoption Consensus?
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New Study Firmly Ties Hormone Use to Breast Cancer
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Racism Review:
International Racist Hate Crimes: American Export?
Prose and Doggerel:
Shoes?
Capitol Annex:
EDITORIAL: The Time Is Now For Democrats To Back A Democrat For Speaker
Obama Announces Energy Team
Politics
Pelosi Lays Down the Law With Rahm
Administration
Cheney Admits Detainee-Abuse Role
Foreign Policy
Experts Predict a Possible Terrorist Strike with a Nuke by 2013 -- What Can We Do to Stop It?
Environment
As Rain Forests Disappear, A Market Solution Emerges
Economy
Stimulus From Below
Civil Rights
US Supreme Court Orders Review of Guantanamo Torture Case
GLBT Issues
Obama's Pick for Education Secretary Backed Chicago Gay School
Choice
The Adoption Consensus?
Women’s Issues
New Study Firmly Ties Hormone Use to Breast Cancer
From the Blogs
Racism Review:
International Racist Hate Crimes: American Export?
Prose and Doggerel:
Shoes?
Capitol Annex:
EDITORIAL: The Time Is Now For Democrats To Back A Democrat For Speaker
Local News: A&M President Finalist for Texan of the Year
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Murano a Finalist for DMN Honor
Eagle Staff Report
From the Bryan-College Station Eagle
The Dallas Morning News on Monday named Elsa A. Murano as the first finalist for its sixth annual Texan of the Year series.
Editorials about the 10 finalists will start appearing Tuesday with Murano's mention and will continue through Dec. 26. The 2008 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year announced on Dec. 28.
In making the announcement, the newspaper pointed out that Murano is the first woman and first Hispanic to lead one of the state's two flagship universities. She also is the first person under the age of 50 to serve as president of Texas A&M since the 1800s.
"Some of her initiatives include pushing a plan to offer free tuition to students whose parents make less than $60,000 a year and renovating the student union center," according to the statement from the Morning News. "She has also set a goal to make sure at least 25 percent of students at the university participate in an international studies experience as part of a globalization effort."
The editorial will be in Tuesday's paper and was posted Monday. Readers can share their opinions on the newspaper's selection by visiting the editorial blog, officials said.
"We had so many thought-provoking nominations this year, it was very difficult to choose just 10 for our series," said Keven Ann Willey, vice president and editorial page editor of The Dallas Morning News. "We deliberated and debated a lot during the selection process, but ultimately I'm proud of the decisions we made."
The distinction draws from reader nominations to the newspaper's Editorial Board. The criteria calls for finding "a Texan [or Texans] who has had uncommon impact; who exemplifies Texas traits of trailblazing, independence and staring down adversity; and who has affected or influenced lives [positively or negatively]."
Officials said the board selected the finalists and winner through an internal vote.
Published Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Eagle Staff Report
From the Bryan-College Station Eagle
The Dallas Morning News on Monday named Elsa A. Murano as the first finalist for its sixth annual Texan of the Year series.
Editorials about the 10 finalists will start appearing Tuesday with Murano's mention and will continue through Dec. 26. The 2008 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year announced on Dec. 28.
In making the announcement, the newspaper pointed out that Murano is the first woman and first Hispanic to lead one of the state's two flagship universities. She also is the first person under the age of 50 to serve as president of Texas A&M since the 1800s.
"Some of her initiatives include pushing a plan to offer free tuition to students whose parents make less than $60,000 a year and renovating the student union center," according to the statement from the Morning News. "She has also set a goal to make sure at least 25 percent of students at the university participate in an international studies experience as part of a globalization effort."
The editorial will be in Tuesday's paper and was posted Monday. Readers can share their opinions on the newspaper's selection by visiting the editorial blog, officials said.
"We had so many thought-provoking nominations this year, it was very difficult to choose just 10 for our series," said Keven Ann Willey, vice president and editorial page editor of The Dallas Morning News. "We deliberated and debated a lot during the selection process, but ultimately I'm proud of the decisions we made."
The distinction draws from reader nominations to the newspaper's Editorial Board. The criteria calls for finding "a Texan [or Texans] who has had uncommon impact; who exemplifies Texas traits of trailblazing, independence and staring down adversity; and who has affected or influenced lives [positively or negatively]."
Officials said the board selected the finalists and winner through an internal vote.
Published Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Issues We Face: Death Penalty
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The following is the third installment of a Left of College Station series: The Issues We Face, an in depth look at the issues that progressive activist will face in the coming year and the coming 111th Congress and 81st Texas Legislature.
Possibly the most difficult task for progressive activist is continuing the movement to abolition the death penalty, particularly in a state that has executed more people than any other in the United States since 1976. There is a particular urgency to this issue; every battle fought is literally a battle for life and death. Organizations such as the Innocence Project of Texas have worked to save lives; Texas has wrongfully convicted 32 people which is more than any other state in the country.
On Friday’s episode of Meet the Bloggers there were several activist and progressive bloggers who discussed the death penalty including Mike Farrell, President of Death Penalty Focus, and Liliana Segura, rights and liberties blogger at AlterNet.org. This discussion ranged from the racial inequality that is present in the justice system to the inhuman and uncivilized nature of the death penalty.
The United States has prided itself on being an example for the rest of the world, yet this country is the only developed western nation that has not abolished the death penalty and finds itself in the company of nations that we often point to as the most egregious human rights offenders. There are four countries that executed more people in 2007 than the United States (42): Pakistan (135), Saudi Arabia (143), Iran (317), and China (470); the United States and those four countries represented 88% of all the executions carried out throughout the world in 2007.
Legislation and the Death Penalty
State Senator Rodney Ellis (D-6) pre-filed SB 167, which would restrict the use of the death penalty from being carried out on a defendant “who at the time of commission of a capital offense was a person with mental retardation.” Texas has executed nine defendants who where mentally retarded, and there have been 44 defendants who have been executed in the United States that where mentally retarded. The Supreme Court decision on Atkins v. Virginia determined that execution of mentally retarded defendants violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments, however the decision did not excluded offenders with severe mental illness. At 25 least defendants with documented diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other persistent and severe mental illnesses have been executed in Texas.
HB 304 was pre-filed by State Representative Harold Dutton (D-142); this legislation would change the “law of parties.” The “law of parties” allows the state to prosecute multiple defendants for the same crime; and essentially allowing the state to seek the death penalty for someone who was party to but did not actually commit a capital crime (similar laws are in place in 24 of 36 American death penalty states). The bill pre-filed by Rep. Dutton would change the law so that a “defendant who is found guilty in a capital felony case only as a party…may not be sentenced to death, and the state may not seek the death penalty in any case in which the defendant’s liability is based solely on that section.” (Section 7.02)
Rep. Dutton also pre-filed HB 298, and this bill would restrict the admissibility of certain evidence in capital cases in which the state seeks the death penalty. Testimony of an informant or alleged accomplice the defendant would not be admissible if it is “given in exchange for a grant or promise by the attorney representing the state or by another of immunity from prosecution, reduction of sentence, or any other form of leniency or special treatment.” Also, statements made by the defendant to another person who they where incinerated with would only be admissible if “corroborated by an electronic recording.”
HB 297 would make the three previous bills unnecessary. This bill which has also been pre-filed by Rep. Dutton would abolish the death penalty in Texas. Dutton introduced the same bill in 2007, HB 745, but the bill did not make it out of committee.
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) has released its annual Report on Death Penalty Developments in 2008, which details capital punishment in Texas over the last year. The report discusses the case of Joe Medellin, a Mexican national who was executed by the state of Texas who ignored a International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling and the pleas of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Texas lawmakers, law professors and religious leaders. Also in the report where reviews of stays of executions, commutations, death sentences, exonerations, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and legislative developments. The report concluded that the number of executions in Texas declined slightly only because of the de facto national moratorium that existed until April 16th, and that the rate at which Texas executed after that date appeared to “exceed all pervious measures.” However, the report also concluded that the number of new death sentences reached the lowest level in more than thirty years and those juries and prosecutors have continued to use life in prison without the possibility of parole more and more.
Possibly the most difficult task for progressive activist is continuing the movement to abolition the death penalty, particularly in a state that has executed more people than any other in the United States since 1976. There is a particular urgency to this issue; every battle fought is literally a battle for life and death. Organizations such as the Innocence Project of Texas have worked to save lives; Texas has wrongfully convicted 32 people which is more than any other state in the country.
On Friday’s episode of Meet the Bloggers there were several activist and progressive bloggers who discussed the death penalty including Mike Farrell, President of Death Penalty Focus, and Liliana Segura, rights and liberties blogger at AlterNet.org. This discussion ranged from the racial inequality that is present in the justice system to the inhuman and uncivilized nature of the death penalty.
The United States has prided itself on being an example for the rest of the world, yet this country is the only developed western nation that has not abolished the death penalty and finds itself in the company of nations that we often point to as the most egregious human rights offenders. There are four countries that executed more people in 2007 than the United States (42): Pakistan (135), Saudi Arabia (143), Iran (317), and China (470); the United States and those four countries represented 88% of all the executions carried out throughout the world in 2007.
Legislation and the Death Penalty
State Senator Rodney Ellis (D-6) pre-filed SB 167, which would restrict the use of the death penalty from being carried out on a defendant “who at the time of commission of a capital offense was a person with mental retardation.” Texas has executed nine defendants who where mentally retarded, and there have been 44 defendants who have been executed in the United States that where mentally retarded. The Supreme Court decision on Atkins v. Virginia determined that execution of mentally retarded defendants violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments, however the decision did not excluded offenders with severe mental illness. At 25 least defendants with documented diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other persistent and severe mental illnesses have been executed in Texas.
HB 304 was pre-filed by State Representative Harold Dutton (D-142); this legislation would change the “law of parties.” The “law of parties” allows the state to prosecute multiple defendants for the same crime; and essentially allowing the state to seek the death penalty for someone who was party to but did not actually commit a capital crime (similar laws are in place in 24 of 36 American death penalty states). The bill pre-filed by Rep. Dutton would change the law so that a “defendant who is found guilty in a capital felony case only as a party…may not be sentenced to death, and the state may not seek the death penalty in any case in which the defendant’s liability is based solely on that section.” (Section 7.02)
Rep. Dutton also pre-filed HB 298, and this bill would restrict the admissibility of certain evidence in capital cases in which the state seeks the death penalty. Testimony of an informant or alleged accomplice the defendant would not be admissible if it is “given in exchange for a grant or promise by the attorney representing the state or by another of immunity from prosecution, reduction of sentence, or any other form of leniency or special treatment.” Also, statements made by the defendant to another person who they where incinerated with would only be admissible if “corroborated by an electronic recording.”
HB 297 would make the three previous bills unnecessary. This bill which has also been pre-filed by Rep. Dutton would abolish the death penalty in Texas. Dutton introduced the same bill in 2007, HB 745, but the bill did not make it out of committee.
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (TCADP) has released its annual Report on Death Penalty Developments in 2008, which details capital punishment in Texas over the last year. The report discusses the case of Joe Medellin, a Mexican national who was executed by the state of Texas who ignored a International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling and the pleas of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Texas lawmakers, law professors and religious leaders. Also in the report where reviews of stays of executions, commutations, death sentences, exonerations, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and legislative developments. The report concluded that the number of executions in Texas declined slightly only because of the de facto national moratorium that existed until April 16th, and that the rate at which Texas executed after that date appeared to “exceed all pervious measures.” However, the report also concluded that the number of new death sentences reached the lowest level in more than thirty years and those juries and prosecutors have continued to use life in prison without the possibility of parole more and more.
Headlines: Chicago Politicians and Austin Lobbyist
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Local News: Sierra Club and Public Citizen Pressure Luminant to Lower Emissions
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Environmental Groups, Corporation Strike Deal over Central Texas Coal Plant
By J.B. Smith (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
A settlement between Luminant and environmentalists could result in reduced mercury emissions from the Oak Grove coal-fired power plant 45 miles southeast of Waco.
The Sierra Club and Public Citizen had threatened to sue the power company over the two-unit plant in Franklin, which was permitted in summer 2007 and is now under construction.
The environmentalists said the plant did not meet new federal mercury standards. Luminant, the power generation business of Energy Future Holdings, the former TXU Corp., had argued that it was not bound by the new rules because its permit was approved under the old rules.
But last week, the company agreed to meet an emissions standard it had resisted, called the “Maximum Achievable Control Technology,” or else offset those emissions at other Luminant plants in the region. In return, the environmental groups agreed not to sue Luminant over those issues.
Sierra Club attorney Sanjay Narawan said he believes Luminant will have to make some significant operational changes at the plant, including mercury-removal technologies and possibly a different mix of fuel. Oak Grove was designed to burn local lignite, but other area coal plants burn a combination of lignite and cleaner Wyoming coal.
The city of Waco in 2007 opposed TXU’s plan to build Oak Grove and several other coal-fired power plants in the area but dropped its opposition after the company’s new owners scaled back its coal power ambitions. The first phase of Oak Grove is expected to be completed in 2010.
Published on Monday, December 15, 2008
By J.B. Smith (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
A settlement between Luminant and environmentalists could result in reduced mercury emissions from the Oak Grove coal-fired power plant 45 miles southeast of Waco.
The Sierra Club and Public Citizen had threatened to sue the power company over the two-unit plant in Franklin, which was permitted in summer 2007 and is now under construction.
The environmentalists said the plant did not meet new federal mercury standards. Luminant, the power generation business of Energy Future Holdings, the former TXU Corp., had argued that it was not bound by the new rules because its permit was approved under the old rules.
But last week, the company agreed to meet an emissions standard it had resisted, called the “Maximum Achievable Control Technology,” or else offset those emissions at other Luminant plants in the region. In return, the environmental groups agreed not to sue Luminant over those issues.
Sierra Club attorney Sanjay Narawan said he believes Luminant will have to make some significant operational changes at the plant, including mercury-removal technologies and possibly a different mix of fuel. Oak Grove was designed to burn local lignite, but other area coal plants burn a combination of lignite and cleaner Wyoming coal.
The city of Waco in 2007 opposed TXU’s plan to build Oak Grove and several other coal-fired power plants in the area but dropped its opposition after the company’s new owners scaled back its coal power ambitions. The first phase of Oak Grove is expected to be completed in 2010.
Published on Monday, December 15, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Death in the Family…
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There will not be another post on Left of College Station until Monday, December 15th.
The grandfather that I share a name with passed away early on Tuesday morning; I am flying to Colorado today with my father and brother for the funeral.
When I return I will be continuing the series “The Issues We Face,” with the next installment on Monday concerning the death penalty.
“Death is no more than passing from one room into another.”
-Helen Keller
The grandfather that I share a name with passed away early on Tuesday morning; I am flying to Colorado today with my father and brother for the funeral.
When I return I will be continuing the series “The Issues We Face,” with the next installment on Monday concerning the death penalty.
“Death is no more than passing from one room into another.”
-Helen Keller
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
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Local News: Recycling Grows Demand Falls
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As Recycling Grows in Waco, Demand for Recycled Goods Falls
By J.B. Smith (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
Just as recycling in Greater Waco is taking wing, the recycling industry has gone into a free-fall.
Recyclers say the bottom has fallen out of the market for recyclables, and they blame the recession.
“When people quit buying products, there’s not as much of a need for boxes,” said Scott Jernigan, general manager of Sunbright Paper Recycling, which accepts paper and plastic from the municipal recycling programs of Waco, Hewitt and Woodway.
Jernigan said recycled cardboard prices have fallen in the last three months from $100 a ton to $25. Plastic that was selling for 25 to 30 cents per pound now sells for 3 to 15 cents, he said.
For now, Sunbright is stockpiling paper and bales of plastic in its warehouse and slowly selling what it can.
Jernigan is hoping the market will turn around in the next three to six months, but if it doesn’t, the company might have to start charging to take recyclables.
“That’s what we don’t want to do,” he said. “We want them to keep recycling.”
This may seem an inopportune time for growth in recycling, but Sunbright and city solid waste officials said they want to keep the momentum going.
“I talked to Sunbright a month ago about this, and they’re really dedicated to recycling,” said city solid waste director Ken Anthony. “Their response is, ‘We’re going to find a place to store the materials, and when the markets return, we can sell it.’ So right now, this isn’t having any impact on us.
“We realize what the economic times are, but at the same time we want to continue our growth so we can be prepared for when economic times change.”
In the last fiscal year, Waco’s recycling volumes grew a record 43 percent, from 1,685 to 2,415 tons.
The growth follows the city’s recent expansion of recycling programs. The city has new programs for recycling at schools, colleges, businesses, nonprofit institutions, apartment complexes and Baylor University athletic events. The city also is accepting green glass and electronic waste.
The apartment program hasn’t yet been heavily promoted, and so far only a handful of apartment complexes are participating, but Anthony said he would like to see it grow in coming years. The program is free to landlords who are willing to accept a large city recycling container on their premises.
Meanwhile, the recession also has hit the metal recycling industry hard, with prices falling by 80 percent or more in recent months because of a sharp drop-off in Chinese demand.
According to national news reports, the price of tin has fallen from $327 to $5 per ton in the last few months.
M. Lipsitz Co., the leading metal recycling company in Waco, has curtailed its business and is offering less for scrap metal, Anthony said.
Charles Johnson, the company’s general manager, declined an interview request for this story.
Published on Tuesday, December 09, 2008
By J.B. Smith (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
Just as recycling in Greater Waco is taking wing, the recycling industry has gone into a free-fall.
Recyclers say the bottom has fallen out of the market for recyclables, and they blame the recession.
“When people quit buying products, there’s not as much of a need for boxes,” said Scott Jernigan, general manager of Sunbright Paper Recycling, which accepts paper and plastic from the municipal recycling programs of Waco, Hewitt and Woodway.
Jernigan said recycled cardboard prices have fallen in the last three months from $100 a ton to $25. Plastic that was selling for 25 to 30 cents per pound now sells for 3 to 15 cents, he said.
For now, Sunbright is stockpiling paper and bales of plastic in its warehouse and slowly selling what it can.
Jernigan is hoping the market will turn around in the next three to six months, but if it doesn’t, the company might have to start charging to take recyclables.
“That’s what we don’t want to do,” he said. “We want them to keep recycling.”
This may seem an inopportune time for growth in recycling, but Sunbright and city solid waste officials said they want to keep the momentum going.
“I talked to Sunbright a month ago about this, and they’re really dedicated to recycling,” said city solid waste director Ken Anthony. “Their response is, ‘We’re going to find a place to store the materials, and when the markets return, we can sell it.’ So right now, this isn’t having any impact on us.
“We realize what the economic times are, but at the same time we want to continue our growth so we can be prepared for when economic times change.”
In the last fiscal year, Waco’s recycling volumes grew a record 43 percent, from 1,685 to 2,415 tons.
The growth follows the city’s recent expansion of recycling programs. The city has new programs for recycling at schools, colleges, businesses, nonprofit institutions, apartment complexes and Baylor University athletic events. The city also is accepting green glass and electronic waste.
The apartment program hasn’t yet been heavily promoted, and so far only a handful of apartment complexes are participating, but Anthony said he would like to see it grow in coming years. The program is free to landlords who are willing to accept a large city recycling container on their premises.
Meanwhile, the recession also has hit the metal recycling industry hard, with prices falling by 80 percent or more in recent months because of a sharp drop-off in Chinese demand.
According to national news reports, the price of tin has fallen from $327 to $5 per ton in the last few months.
M. Lipsitz Co., the leading metal recycling company in Waco, has curtailed its business and is offering less for scrap metal, Anthony said.
Charles Johnson, the company’s general manager, declined an interview request for this story.
Published on Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Issues We Face: Protecting the Environment
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The following is the second installment of a Left of College Station series: The Issues We Face, an in depth look at the issues that progressive activist will face in the coming year and the coming 111th Congress and 81st Texas Legislature.
The environment is a critical issue that facing progressive activist; this issue includes global climate change to protecting our environment here in Texas. The most dangerous thing about climate change and the affect that we are having on our environment is that it is unprecedented and unpredictable; there are not models that can predict what may happen in the future and if we do not act we will find out what the worst possible outcomes may be.
According to the Department of Energy Texas produces and consumes more electricity than any other State; however, Texas also leads the Nation in wind-powered generation capacity. With the resources that Texas possesses it is in the unique position to be one of the leaders of alternative energy, and it could also be one of the leaders in addressing climate change.
As Katherine Haenschen of the Burnt Orange Report reported, lawmakers such as Phil King are standing in the way of progress and are disseminating false information about pollution and climate change.
While the “clean coal” lobby spends millions on advertising, without actually having one “clean coal” power plant, and oil companies continue to spend minuscule amounts on alternative energy research, we must continue to pressure our legislatures to mandate the production of alternative energy and the reduction of green house gas emissions.
Environmental Legislation
In the Texas House of Representatives, Representative Brandon Creighton (R-16) has pre-filed two bills pertaining to injection wells. Creighton has not had a favorable record on environment issues, and in 2007 voted for 33% of legislation supported by Environment Texas, 32% of legislation supported by the Texas League of Conservation Voters, and just 12% of legislation supported by the Sierra Club.
HB 177 will create testing requirements for certain commercial injection wells; the applicant for an injection well will be required to “perform on-site monitoring wells to monitor and analyze groundwater quality” and “conduct shallow soil tests.” Also, the applicant must “submit to the commission a report of groundwater and soil quality on a regular schedule as required by commission rules; and immediately when a change in quality is detected.”
HB 178 (and the companion bill pre-filed by State Representative Robert Nichols (R-3) SB 274 proposes a prohibition on permits for injection wells in specified areas; however, written into the bill are loops holes that could render the prohibition little more than a limitation. The proposed bill would prohibited a permit for an injection well within 2,640 feet (only half a mile) of a residence, church, school, day-care center, surface body of water used for public drinking or water supply, or a dedicated public park. However, the prohibition “does not apply if the residence, church, school, day-care center, surface water body used for a public drinking water supply, or dedicated park is located on property that is owned by the permit applicant and that is adjacent to the well for which the application is filed.” A “local government to petition the commission for a rule that restricts or prohibits the siting of a new injection well in an area specified by the petition,” however, a local government cannot petition the commission if an application for an injection well has already been filed.
State Senator Rodney Ellis (D-13), who until recently had an below average record on environmental issues but in 2007 received a 100% rating from the Sierra Club and 86% rating from Environment Texas, has pre-filed SB 119 which would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to implement to the low-emission vehicle program that is “consistent with the California Low-Emission Vehicle program and would apply “only to motor vehicles with a model year of 2012 or later.” Ellis also pre-filed SB 132, which would require vehicles that are sold or registered in Texas to have a “label that clearly, distinctly, and legibly discloses the emission standards that are applicable to the vehicle…and any related air pollution emissions information specified by the commission.” These labels will include a smog index, a global warming index, and a “brief explanation, prepared by the commission, of the indexes required by this section, including the identification of motor vehicle usage as a primary cause of global warming, and of how emissions of gases from motor vehicles may be reduced.”
State Senator Mario Gallegos (D-6), who has an excellent record on environmental issues and received perfect ratings from both the Environment Texas and the Sierra Club in 2007, pre-filed two bills that would affect laws that regulate emissions of air contaminants. SB 171 creates standards by which the TCEQ will measure emissions of air contaminants, standards that will take “into consideration all acute and chronic health effects on a person resulting from exposure to an air contaminant.” The bill also requires the TCEQ to “assemble a panel of independent, nationally recognized experts in the fields of toxicology, epidemiology, medicine, and public health to review the commission's effects screening levels and to recommend standards to the commission that comply with the requirements” set forth in the legislation. Also of note is that the panel will “provide opportunities for public comment in conducting the review.” The time line of the proposed legislation is to have the panel assembled by January 1, 2010, and that the panel should make recommendations to the TCEQ by July 1, 2011 to be implemented by October 1, 2011, and owners or operators of emissions sources will have until January 1, 2013 to comply.
SB 173 would create regulations for monitoring air contaminant emissions, including requiring the owner or operators of an emissions source to “provide for daily fence-line monitoring of air contaminant emissions from the major source; and make and maintain records on the measurement and monitoring of the emissions.” The owner or operator would also have to designate an independent consultant approved by the commission to certify to the commission that the major source is in compliance.” However, one of the more important pieces of this legislation would be the creation of an “Air Pollutant Watch List,” and would publish notice of and allow public comment on “addition of an air contaminant to or removal of an air contaminant from the air pollutant watch list; or an addition of an area to or removal of an area from the air pollutant watch list.”
The task before us is great, because of the enormity of this global problem.
“We seem incapable of grasping what is at stake here, and perhaps it is because so much is at stake.” –Jeff Goodell (Author of Big Coal)
The environment is a critical issue that facing progressive activist; this issue includes global climate change to protecting our environment here in Texas. The most dangerous thing about climate change and the affect that we are having on our environment is that it is unprecedented and unpredictable; there are not models that can predict what may happen in the future and if we do not act we will find out what the worst possible outcomes may be.
According to the Department of Energy Texas produces and consumes more electricity than any other State; however, Texas also leads the Nation in wind-powered generation capacity. With the resources that Texas possesses it is in the unique position to be one of the leaders of alternative energy, and it could also be one of the leaders in addressing climate change.
As Katherine Haenschen of the Burnt Orange Report reported, lawmakers such as Phil King are standing in the way of progress and are disseminating false information about pollution and climate change.
While the “clean coal” lobby spends millions on advertising, without actually having one “clean coal” power plant, and oil companies continue to spend minuscule amounts on alternative energy research, we must continue to pressure our legislatures to mandate the production of alternative energy and the reduction of green house gas emissions.
Environmental Legislation
In the Texas House of Representatives, Representative Brandon Creighton (R-16) has pre-filed two bills pertaining to injection wells. Creighton has not had a favorable record on environment issues, and in 2007 voted for 33% of legislation supported by Environment Texas, 32% of legislation supported by the Texas League of Conservation Voters, and just 12% of legislation supported by the Sierra Club.
HB 177 will create testing requirements for certain commercial injection wells; the applicant for an injection well will be required to “perform on-site monitoring wells to monitor and analyze groundwater quality” and “conduct shallow soil tests.” Also, the applicant must “submit to the commission a report of groundwater and soil quality on a regular schedule as required by commission rules; and immediately when a change in quality is detected.”
HB 178 (and the companion bill pre-filed by State Representative Robert Nichols (R-3) SB 274 proposes a prohibition on permits for injection wells in specified areas; however, written into the bill are loops holes that could render the prohibition little more than a limitation. The proposed bill would prohibited a permit for an injection well within 2,640 feet (only half a mile) of a residence, church, school, day-care center, surface body of water used for public drinking or water supply, or a dedicated public park. However, the prohibition “does not apply if the residence, church, school, day-care center, surface water body used for a public drinking water supply, or dedicated park is located on property that is owned by the permit applicant and that is adjacent to the well for which the application is filed.” A “local government to petition the commission for a rule that restricts or prohibits the siting of a new injection well in an area specified by the petition,” however, a local government cannot petition the commission if an application for an injection well has already been filed.
State Senator Rodney Ellis (D-13), who until recently had an below average record on environmental issues but in 2007 received a 100% rating from the Sierra Club and 86% rating from Environment Texas, has pre-filed SB 119 which would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to implement to the low-emission vehicle program that is “consistent with the California Low-Emission Vehicle program and would apply “only to motor vehicles with a model year of 2012 or later.” Ellis also pre-filed SB 132, which would require vehicles that are sold or registered in Texas to have a “label that clearly, distinctly, and legibly discloses the emission standards that are applicable to the vehicle…and any related air pollution emissions information specified by the commission.” These labels will include a smog index, a global warming index, and a “brief explanation, prepared by the commission, of the indexes required by this section, including the identification of motor vehicle usage as a primary cause of global warming, and of how emissions of gases from motor vehicles may be reduced.”
State Senator Mario Gallegos (D-6), who has an excellent record on environmental issues and received perfect ratings from both the Environment Texas and the Sierra Club in 2007, pre-filed two bills that would affect laws that regulate emissions of air contaminants. SB 171 creates standards by which the TCEQ will measure emissions of air contaminants, standards that will take “into consideration all acute and chronic health effects on a person resulting from exposure to an air contaminant.” The bill also requires the TCEQ to “assemble a panel of independent, nationally recognized experts in the fields of toxicology, epidemiology, medicine, and public health to review the commission's effects screening levels and to recommend standards to the commission that comply with the requirements” set forth in the legislation. Also of note is that the panel will “provide opportunities for public comment in conducting the review.” The time line of the proposed legislation is to have the panel assembled by January 1, 2010, and that the panel should make recommendations to the TCEQ by July 1, 2011 to be implemented by October 1, 2011, and owners or operators of emissions sources will have until January 1, 2013 to comply.
SB 173 would create regulations for monitoring air contaminant emissions, including requiring the owner or operators of an emissions source to “provide for daily fence-line monitoring of air contaminant emissions from the major source; and make and maintain records on the measurement and monitoring of the emissions.” The owner or operator would also have to designate an independent consultant approved by the commission to certify to the commission that the major source is in compliance.” However, one of the more important pieces of this legislation would be the creation of an “Air Pollutant Watch List,” and would publish notice of and allow public comment on “addition of an air contaminant to or removal of an air contaminant from the air pollutant watch list; or an addition of an area to or removal of an area from the air pollutant watch list.”
The task before us is great, because of the enormity of this global problem.
“We seem incapable of grasping what is at stake here, and perhaps it is because so much is at stake.” –Jeff Goodell (Author of Big Coal)
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Local News: Vigil for Mumbai
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Candlelight Vigil Honors Mumbai Victims
By: Madiha Rizvi
From the Texas A&M University Battalion
The Chabad Jewish Center in College Station had a vigil to commemorate victims of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai Friday by lighting candles in their honor.
Participants hoped the light of each candle could dispel the darkness created by the terrorist attacks. The attacks from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29 left at least 174 people dead and more than 239 injured. It has been said by many this is India's 9/11.
Among the casualties were Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg and his wife Rivkah, who had established a Chabad Center catering to the needs of Jews in Mumbai.
"Chabad [Center] is where every Jew is welcome. It is a haven for them and this special couple reached out to a community," said Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, one of the co-directors of the Chabad Center in College Station.
Some students said it hit them very hard because they considered members of the Chabad Center their extended family.
"Chabad is almost like a second home to me," said Kate Putnam, a sophomore political science major. "It [Mumbai] is really far away and there is not much of our Jewish population there but they were like my family. They are part of us."
The Chabad Center teamed up with the India Student Association to sign mitzvahs, which literally translates to "commandment used to connote a good deed."
"We [Chabad Center, Indian Association, India Student Association] made students sign yellow pledge forms where they have promised to do a good deed, a mitzvah," Yossi said.
The yellow pledge forms were displayed on one of the walls of the Chabad Jewish Center. They will be sent to the Holzbergs' son.
"All these are going to their son, Moishe'le Holzberg," said Manya Lazaroff, co-director of the College Station Chabad Center. "The only way to counteract random hatred is random kindness."
Kevin Bell, an international affairs graduate student, said what happened was terrible, but revenge was not the way out of the problem.
"Instead of lashing out and demanding revenge, it is better to do good deeds," Bell said.
Some students said it was important to hear what the terrorists were asking for.
"These attacks were a symbol of hatred and miscommunication. The same effect of us [Indians] hearing their needs and wants could be addressed without the violence and hatred," said Divya Srinivasan, a junior finance major.
In addition to the Chabad Jewish Center's vigil, the Indian Association, a graduate student group, had a candlelight vigil on Tuesday to condemn the attacks and light candles for peace.
Published on Monday, December 8, 2008
By: Madiha Rizvi
From the Texas A&M University Battalion
The Chabad Jewish Center in College Station had a vigil to commemorate victims of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai Friday by lighting candles in their honor.
Participants hoped the light of each candle could dispel the darkness created by the terrorist attacks. The attacks from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29 left at least 174 people dead and more than 239 injured. It has been said by many this is India's 9/11.
Among the casualties were Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg and his wife Rivkah, who had established a Chabad Center catering to the needs of Jews in Mumbai.
"Chabad [Center] is where every Jew is welcome. It is a haven for them and this special couple reached out to a community," said Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff, one of the co-directors of the Chabad Center in College Station.
Some students said it hit them very hard because they considered members of the Chabad Center their extended family.
"Chabad is almost like a second home to me," said Kate Putnam, a sophomore political science major. "It [Mumbai] is really far away and there is not much of our Jewish population there but they were like my family. They are part of us."
The Chabad Center teamed up with the India Student Association to sign mitzvahs, which literally translates to "commandment used to connote a good deed."
"We [Chabad Center, Indian Association, India Student Association] made students sign yellow pledge forms where they have promised to do a good deed, a mitzvah," Yossi said.
The yellow pledge forms were displayed on one of the walls of the Chabad Jewish Center. They will be sent to the Holzbergs' son.
"All these are going to their son, Moishe'le Holzberg," said Manya Lazaroff, co-director of the College Station Chabad Center. "The only way to counteract random hatred is random kindness."
Kevin Bell, an international affairs graduate student, said what happened was terrible, but revenge was not the way out of the problem.
"Instead of lashing out and demanding revenge, it is better to do good deeds," Bell said.
Some students said it was important to hear what the terrorists were asking for.
"These attacks were a symbol of hatred and miscommunication. The same effect of us [Indians] hearing their needs and wants could be addressed without the violence and hatred," said Divya Srinivasan, a junior finance major.
In addition to the Chabad Jewish Center's vigil, the Indian Association, a graduate student group, had a candlelight vigil on Tuesday to condemn the attacks and light candles for peace.
Published on Monday, December 8, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Headlines: Center Right or Center Left?
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Supreme Court to Consider Pensions and Pregnancy Leave
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Vet Voice:
The IRR Dilemma
Bay Area Houston:
Can't have your cake and health care too.
Texas Liberal:
Tolerance Is A Lousy Name For A Bridge
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School Buds: 20 Harvard Classmates Advising Obama
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Saying America is "center-right" isn't just wrong. It's meaningless.
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Ending the Mindset
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Protect Student Loan Borrowers, Not Just Lenders
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In China’s Mining Region, Villagers Stand Up To Pollution
Civil Rights
Cruel and Unusual: Serving a Death Sentence in a Prison Hospital
Race
Youth Politics Stand Out at Facing Race Conference
Choice
Anti-Abortion Group Pushes Failed "Personhood" Strategy
Women’s Issues
Supreme Court to Consider Pensions and Pregnancy Leave
From the Blogs
Vet Voice:
The IRR Dilemma
Bay Area Houston:
Can't have your cake and health care too.
Texas Liberal:
Tolerance Is A Lousy Name For A Bridge
Local News: Local Artists Draw Attention
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Local Family Artists Bringing Collectors in From Around the State
By Rosemary Smith (Examiner Editor)
From the Navasota Examiner
Eight months ago, the artwork of 18-year-old Navasota High School student Krystel Minor, whom friends call Molly Bee Collins, had been accepted into its first gallery show at the Redbud Gallery Show of Houston. Since then, Molly Bee has joined forces with her father Leon and their art has gained the attention of four other art galleries, three of which are located in New York, Rhode Island and California.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Tejas Antiques owner Duane Garner, who displays the original folk art both outside and inside his business, says simple word of mouth is bringing in a growing number of customers from the metropolitan areas of Austin, Dallas and Houston.
Word of mouth unexpectedly brought in Redbud Gallery owner Gus Kopriva of Houston.
“We had two ladies come in the store and one of them turned out to be the production manager of Channel 13. Kirk Brown and David Waller from Houston showed up within a month and David took it upon himself to show the paintings to Gus,” said Garner.
“He booked a show for us the first day he met us. We’re in a preshow now and he’s given us the whole gallery for the entire summer of 2009,” said Leon.
Leon and his daughter were especially pleased to discover that Gus’s wife Sharon is a world-renown artist.
“She’s the only American artist the Peruvian government allowed to show their work there,” said Garner.
The Collins’s now look forward to seeing where this newfound road of discovery leads them as the duo’s artwork is displayed at the famous gallery.
“I want to be famous quick because so many people that like folk art haven’t seen our work,” said Leon.
It’s a very prestigious show,” said Garner, who encouraged Molly Bee to pick up acrylic painting after an 8-year hiatus.
Leon said his daughter’s talent is 100 percent natural, as she has never taken an art class and seems to paint effortlessly.
“Molly can almost finish a painting half-asleep. She can be talking on her cell phone, eating, watching a movie, doing her homework and painting, all at the same time. It takes me three to four hours of concentrating to finish one painting,” said Leon, who says he first became an artist in the 1970s and returned to his love for painting once Molly was born.
Collins paintings sell anywhere between $185 to $1,000.
Leon believes the stories that go along with the paintings bring added interest to the artwork, most of which come from Leon’s own childhood.
The duo is currently working on a chicken series called, Big Lap and Lia Baby.
It’s a real story, but we added a little to it. Big Lady was my cousin and Big Lap was a friend of mine,” Leon recalled. “I was big when I was a boy and Big Lap was sitting under a China Berry tree eating tuna sandwiches when I met him. I wanted one, so I took it and he almost died chasing me. After that, we became friends,” said Leon, who added that he believes a painting made without a story doesn’t mean anything.
Garner agreed, “When he tells the story, that’s what brings the paintings to life â€- that personalization.”
The paintings portray a comedy story about Big Lap and Lia Baby’s adventures as the owners of chickens that grew to weigh 1,000 pounds.
Leon is now working on a book that compiles stories about his childhood visits to his uncle’s farm in Brazoria with tales created for the paintings.
“It’s written in slang script. I wrote it just as we spoke in those days, growing up in the 60s,” said Leon.
Their growing fame has also brought the Collins their very own benefactors, Brad and Celia Freazzelle of Fort Worth, who offered their services to the family in April, following a Fort Worth art show debut. The duo was recently selected as finalists from among 1,032 entries in the by-invitation-only juried art show. The Collins’ folk art will be featured there again at the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival in May 2009.
Leon said he and his daughter recently completed an interview with South Central Texas Live magazine and will be featured in the January-February 2009 issue.
“Their artwork is a magnet for Navasota,” said fellow artist Russell Cushman of Navasota
Published on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
By Rosemary Smith (Examiner Editor)
From the Navasota Examiner
Eight months ago, the artwork of 18-year-old Navasota High School student Krystel Minor, whom friends call Molly Bee Collins, had been accepted into its first gallery show at the Redbud Gallery Show of Houston. Since then, Molly Bee has joined forces with her father Leon and their art has gained the attention of four other art galleries, three of which are located in New York, Rhode Island and California.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, Tejas Antiques owner Duane Garner, who displays the original folk art both outside and inside his business, says simple word of mouth is bringing in a growing number of customers from the metropolitan areas of Austin, Dallas and Houston.
Word of mouth unexpectedly brought in Redbud Gallery owner Gus Kopriva of Houston.
“We had two ladies come in the store and one of them turned out to be the production manager of Channel 13. Kirk Brown and David Waller from Houston showed up within a month and David took it upon himself to show the paintings to Gus,” said Garner.
“He booked a show for us the first day he met us. We’re in a preshow now and he’s given us the whole gallery for the entire summer of 2009,” said Leon.
Leon and his daughter were especially pleased to discover that Gus’s wife Sharon is a world-renown artist.
“She’s the only American artist the Peruvian government allowed to show their work there,” said Garner.
The Collins’s now look forward to seeing where this newfound road of discovery leads them as the duo’s artwork is displayed at the famous gallery.
“I want to be famous quick because so many people that like folk art haven’t seen our work,” said Leon.
It’s a very prestigious show,” said Garner, who encouraged Molly Bee to pick up acrylic painting after an 8-year hiatus.
Leon said his daughter’s talent is 100 percent natural, as she has never taken an art class and seems to paint effortlessly.
“Molly can almost finish a painting half-asleep. She can be talking on her cell phone, eating, watching a movie, doing her homework and painting, all at the same time. It takes me three to four hours of concentrating to finish one painting,” said Leon, who says he first became an artist in the 1970s and returned to his love for painting once Molly was born.
Collins paintings sell anywhere between $185 to $1,000.
Leon believes the stories that go along with the paintings bring added interest to the artwork, most of which come from Leon’s own childhood.
The duo is currently working on a chicken series called, Big Lap and Lia Baby.
It’s a real story, but we added a little to it. Big Lady was my cousin and Big Lap was a friend of mine,” Leon recalled. “I was big when I was a boy and Big Lap was sitting under a China Berry tree eating tuna sandwiches when I met him. I wanted one, so I took it and he almost died chasing me. After that, we became friends,” said Leon, who added that he believes a painting made without a story doesn’t mean anything.
Garner agreed, “When he tells the story, that’s what brings the paintings to life â€- that personalization.”
The paintings portray a comedy story about Big Lap and Lia Baby’s adventures as the owners of chickens that grew to weigh 1,000 pounds.
Leon is now working on a book that compiles stories about his childhood visits to his uncle’s farm in Brazoria with tales created for the paintings.
“It’s written in slang script. I wrote it just as we spoke in those days, growing up in the 60s,” said Leon.
Their growing fame has also brought the Collins their very own benefactors, Brad and Celia Freazzelle of Fort Worth, who offered their services to the family in April, following a Fort Worth art show debut. The duo was recently selected as finalists from among 1,032 entries in the by-invitation-only juried art show. The Collins’ folk art will be featured there again at the Main Street Fort Worth Arts Festival in May 2009.
Leon said he and his daughter recently completed an interview with South Central Texas Live magazine and will be featured in the January-February 2009 issue.
“Their artwork is a magnet for Navasota,” said fellow artist Russell Cushman of Navasota
Published on Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Headlines: Politics, Policy, Policing
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GOP Hopes Holder Makes Dems Squirm
Retired Officers Meet With Obama Aides on Interrogation Policy
Politics
Untold Story of Election 2008: The Death of the NRA
Matthews Advised to Quit MSNBC For Senate Run
War and Peace
Policing Afghanistan
Media
Networking News
Environment
Hawai’i Endorses Ambitious Electric Car Plan
Death Penalty
Dead Man Waiting
Voters Rights
Ballot Boxed
Racism
Racism and Anti-Racism in Suburban New York
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Broader Medical Refusal Rule May Go Far Beyond Abortion
Women’s Issues
Hourglass Figures: We Take It All Back
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Prose and Doggerel:
No War, Please
Off the Kuff:
Poll Shows Democrats Gaining Ground in Texas
Bluedaze:
They Call Them Saltwater Disposal/Injection Wells
Local News: Texas Violating Patients’ Constitutional Rights
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Federal Report Details Neglect, Abuse in State Schools, Amid Calls to Shut Down the Facilities, Including One in Mexia
By Cindy V. Culp (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
A federal report that details abuse and neglect at Texas’ institutions for the mentally retarded could further fuel a push to shut down the facilities, including one that is the economic backbone of a Central Texas town.
The Mexia State School was one of 12 institutions studied by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of an investigation into civil rights violations. In the report, issued this week, the department contends that the facilities fall short in providing adequate care to residents and in protecting them from harm.
At least 114 residents died at state-run facilities for the mentally disabled during a one-year period that ended in September, the report said, with at least 53 of those deaths being preventable. The report also notes that the state investigated at least 500 allegations of abuse, neglect and other mistreatment at the facilities from July through September.
The findings have prompted opponents of the institutions to renew calls for them to be closed. At least one state lawmaker has pledged to introduce legislation this coming session calling for the consolidation and closure of several of the facilities.
Also, the Legislative Budget Board issued a report last month that recommends that the state agency in charge of the institutions, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, be instructed to develop a long-term plan with specific strategies for downsizing them. The board develops budget and policy recommendations for state agencies.
In addition, two legislative committees have been studying the operations of the institutions, which are referred to as state schools. The groups are expected to issue reports within the next month or two.
Linda Archibald, executive director of the Mexia Area Chamber of Commerce, said it would be devastating for Mexia to lose its state school. It is the county’s largest employer, providing jobs to more than 1,400 people.
“That is a staple of the community,” she said. “We do not want to lose the Mexia State School. We need the Mexia State School.”
Jim Branson, an organizer with the Texas State Employees Union, said there have been rumblings of closing the facilities for years, but this time, there seems to be more momentum. Branson said it seems the closure efforts are reaching a crescendo just as the Legislature is to convene in January.
“(State school supporters) really better take it seriously,” Branson said. “This is one of the more intense efforts I’ve seen.”
The federal report marks the third time in three years that the Justice Department has investigated Texas’ 13 state schools. Similar findings of mistreatment at the Lubbock State School came out in 2006.
Mexia incidents cited
This week’s report examined the other 12 facilities. Mexia was not singled out as being better or worse than the others. For the most part, the federal report did not disclose where instances of mistreatment occurred.
However, one example clearly refers to an incident at the Mexia campus. It involved a 15-year-old boy who died last January after being strapped to a restraint board.
The report also references another incident that happened at Mexia last July. A resident who was restrained suffered two black eyes, an abrasion on his back, a large bruise on the center of his chest and other injuries, the report said.
Other examples of mistreatment within the system cited in the report include:
* A 17-year-old female resident being raped by a male staff member. Another employee witnessed his colleague in a compromising position with the girl but did not report it for two days.
* One resident on three occasions swallowed latex gloves but the mental disorder causing the behavior was not listed on his charts. The same was true for residents who swallowed other items, including Swiss Army knives.
While some of the examples are of deliberate abuse, many shortcomings are the result of a broken system, the report says.
“Much of the facilities’ difficulties stem from high staff attrition rates and from staff vacancies, especially for direct care staff and clinicians,” wrote Grace Chung Becker, an acting assistant U.S. attorney general. “Until the facilities can successfully retain, train and supervise their staff, they will face enormous difficulties in addressing the identified discrepancies.”
That’s the point Branson and other state school advocates have been making for years, he said. The state puts employees into a no-win situation by subjecting them to poor working conditions. For example, employees are routinely asked to care for too many residents at once or forced to work double shifts. Then, when that environment results in residents getting injured due to inadequate supervision or exhaustion, employees are blamed, he said.
Similarly, the report’s contention that the firing of 800 employees for abuse or neglect over the past four years is corroboration of widespread problems is misleading, Branson said. A large number of those firings were for incidents many people would hardly consider abuse, Branson said. Under the state’s zero-tolerance policy, employees are fired if a resident so much as stubs a toe while a worker is around, he said.
“The standard they are holding people to is somewhat ridiculous,” he said.
The federal government is threatening legal action if the state does not resolve the problems. Corrective steps outlined in the report include better tracking of potential abuse, improved training for workers and more careful use of restraints.
Laura Albrecht, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, said her agency is reviewing the letter and will do everything in its power to comply.
No simple solution
Some advocates for the disabled say there is no way to fix the institutions, however. They want the approximately 5,000 people who reside at state schools to be cared for in the community instead, in places like group homes. Money for such care could come from the savings realized by closing the schools, they say.
But opponents of closure say the issue is not that simple. Some point to what has happened with the mental health system.
The number of beds at state-funded psychiatric hospitals has been slashed dramatically in recent decades, with the idea that people should be cared for outside of institutions. That has freed up some money for community care but not enough, critics say. The result is that many people with mental illness don’t get the help they need.
The Legislative Budget Board report acknowledges that gap. Institutional care for the mentally retarded is more expensive than community care, in part because people in institutions tend to have more profound impairments. If the shift advocates are asking for happens, the cost of community care would likely increase substantially, it says.
Furthermore, some people can’t realistically be cared for outside of an institutional setting, said Daniel Burkeen, county judge for Limestone County, where Mexia is located. Some people’s limitations mean they need the type of services offered by the Mexia State School, he said.
“(Community care) is not going to work for everyone,” he said.
Because of that, Burkeen said he doesn’t believe the Legislature will end up closing the Mexia facility. But if things begin to look that way during the upcoming legislative session, local officials will do whatever is needed to make their voices heard, he said.
The Associated Press and Austin American-Statesman contributed to this story.
Published on Thursday, November 4, 2008
By Cindy V. Culp (Tribune-Herald Staff Writer)
From the Waco Tribune-Herald
A federal report that details abuse and neglect at Texas’ institutions for the mentally retarded could further fuel a push to shut down the facilities, including one that is the economic backbone of a Central Texas town.
The Mexia State School was one of 12 institutions studied by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of an investigation into civil rights violations. In the report, issued this week, the department contends that the facilities fall short in providing adequate care to residents and in protecting them from harm.
At least 114 residents died at state-run facilities for the mentally disabled during a one-year period that ended in September, the report said, with at least 53 of those deaths being preventable. The report also notes that the state investigated at least 500 allegations of abuse, neglect and other mistreatment at the facilities from July through September.
The findings have prompted opponents of the institutions to renew calls for them to be closed. At least one state lawmaker has pledged to introduce legislation this coming session calling for the consolidation and closure of several of the facilities.
Also, the Legislative Budget Board issued a report last month that recommends that the state agency in charge of the institutions, the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, be instructed to develop a long-term plan with specific strategies for downsizing them. The board develops budget and policy recommendations for state agencies.
In addition, two legislative committees have been studying the operations of the institutions, which are referred to as state schools. The groups are expected to issue reports within the next month or two.
Linda Archibald, executive director of the Mexia Area Chamber of Commerce, said it would be devastating for Mexia to lose its state school. It is the county’s largest employer, providing jobs to more than 1,400 people.
“That is a staple of the community,” she said. “We do not want to lose the Mexia State School. We need the Mexia State School.”
Jim Branson, an organizer with the Texas State Employees Union, said there have been rumblings of closing the facilities for years, but this time, there seems to be more momentum. Branson said it seems the closure efforts are reaching a crescendo just as the Legislature is to convene in January.
“(State school supporters) really better take it seriously,” Branson said. “This is one of the more intense efforts I’ve seen.”
The federal report marks the third time in three years that the Justice Department has investigated Texas’ 13 state schools. Similar findings of mistreatment at the Lubbock State School came out in 2006.
Mexia incidents cited
This week’s report examined the other 12 facilities. Mexia was not singled out as being better or worse than the others. For the most part, the federal report did not disclose where instances of mistreatment occurred.
However, one example clearly refers to an incident at the Mexia campus. It involved a 15-year-old boy who died last January after being strapped to a restraint board.
The report also references another incident that happened at Mexia last July. A resident who was restrained suffered two black eyes, an abrasion on his back, a large bruise on the center of his chest and other injuries, the report said.
Other examples of mistreatment within the system cited in the report include:
* A 17-year-old female resident being raped by a male staff member. Another employee witnessed his colleague in a compromising position with the girl but did not report it for two days.
* One resident on three occasions swallowed latex gloves but the mental disorder causing the behavior was not listed on his charts. The same was true for residents who swallowed other items, including Swiss Army knives.
While some of the examples are of deliberate abuse, many shortcomings are the result of a broken system, the report says.
“Much of the facilities’ difficulties stem from high staff attrition rates and from staff vacancies, especially for direct care staff and clinicians,” wrote Grace Chung Becker, an acting assistant U.S. attorney general. “Until the facilities can successfully retain, train and supervise their staff, they will face enormous difficulties in addressing the identified discrepancies.”
That’s the point Branson and other state school advocates have been making for years, he said. The state puts employees into a no-win situation by subjecting them to poor working conditions. For example, employees are routinely asked to care for too many residents at once or forced to work double shifts. Then, when that environment results in residents getting injured due to inadequate supervision or exhaustion, employees are blamed, he said.
Similarly, the report’s contention that the firing of 800 employees for abuse or neglect over the past four years is corroboration of widespread problems is misleading, Branson said. A large number of those firings were for incidents many people would hardly consider abuse, Branson said. Under the state’s zero-tolerance policy, employees are fired if a resident so much as stubs a toe while a worker is around, he said.
“The standard they are holding people to is somewhat ridiculous,” he said.
The federal government is threatening legal action if the state does not resolve the problems. Corrective steps outlined in the report include better tracking of potential abuse, improved training for workers and more careful use of restraints.
Laura Albrecht, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, said her agency is reviewing the letter and will do everything in its power to comply.
No simple solution
Some advocates for the disabled say there is no way to fix the institutions, however. They want the approximately 5,000 people who reside at state schools to be cared for in the community instead, in places like group homes. Money for such care could come from the savings realized by closing the schools, they say.
But opponents of closure say the issue is not that simple. Some point to what has happened with the mental health system.
The number of beds at state-funded psychiatric hospitals has been slashed dramatically in recent decades, with the idea that people should be cared for outside of institutions. That has freed up some money for community care but not enough, critics say. The result is that many people with mental illness don’t get the help they need.
The Legislative Budget Board report acknowledges that gap. Institutional care for the mentally retarded is more expensive than community care, in part because people in institutions tend to have more profound impairments. If the shift advocates are asking for happens, the cost of community care would likely increase substantially, it says.
Furthermore, some people can’t realistically be cared for outside of an institutional setting, said Daniel Burkeen, county judge for Limestone County, where Mexia is located. Some people’s limitations mean they need the type of services offered by the Mexia State School, he said.
“(Community care) is not going to work for everyone,” he said.
Because of that, Burkeen said he doesn’t believe the Legislature will end up closing the Mexia facility. But if things begin to look that way during the upcoming legislative session, local officials will do whatever is needed to make their voices heard, he said.
The Associated Press and Austin American-Statesman contributed to this story.
Published on Thursday, November 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Issues We Face: Reproductive Rights
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The following is the first installment of a Left of College Station series: The Issues We Face, an in depth look at the issues that progressive activist will face in the coming year and the coming 111th Congress and 81st Texas Legislature.
Reproductive rights will continue to be an important issue and the public debate may intensify in the next year, despite electing a pro-choice President, having Democratic majorities in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and defeating anti-choice legislation in California, Colorado, and North Dakota. The defeats that the anti-choice movement has been handed this year will galvanize the activist in that movement, even though for the first time in eight years the anti-choice movement will be on the outside looking in.
Legislating Choice:
There are four bills in the Texas legislature that have been pre-filed that concern reproductive rights. Vince at Capitol Annex reported on the “informed consent” bills that have been filed in both the Texas House and Senate, and pointed to studies that showed the literature that women are subjected to are flawed and have to potential to misinform women:
“An analysis of these state-developed materials demonstrates that they do not always measure up to the gold standard of informed consent. Particularly with regard to certain hot-button issues, the information presented is either out-of-date, biased or both. In some cases, the state goes so far as to include information that is patently inaccurate or incomplete, lending credence to the charge that states' abortion counseling mandates are sometimes intended less to inform women about the abortion procedure than to discourage them from seeking abortions altogether.”
HB 36, authored by Representative Frank Corte (R-122), was pre-filed last month and would remove the exception of a medical emergency from the current consent law; meaning that even if condition exist that necessitates the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death the pregnant woman must be subjected to “informed consent.” The bill states that the pregnant woman must be informed of the medical risk of abortion when “medically accurate” including the false claim of the “possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer.”
Another bill that was pre-filed in the State Senate is SB 182, authored by Senator Dan Patrick (R-7); the bill is identical to HB 36.
Corte also authored HB 44, which would require a pharmacist inform a customer seeking to purchase emergency contraception that it will “prevent the fertilization of an egg; or the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.” This would legalize intimidation of customers seeking a legal contraceptive, like what has recently been reported in an incident at an Oxford, Mississippi Walgreens. Also, businesses which sell emergency contraception would be required to post the following sign:
“If you believe that life beings at fertilization – the point where the sperm and egg unite – then you need to know that emergency contraception may either function as a contraceptive to prevent the egg and sperm from uniting or prevent the implantation of your already fertilized egg in your womb. The pharmacist dispensing this drug is required to explain to you how the product may help to prevent your pregnancy.”
HB 109, authored by Representative Larry Phillips (R-62), would authorize the Department of Transportation to issue “Choose Life” license plates, and establish a “Choose Life” account to donate money to an eligible organization to “provide counseling, training, advertising, and pregnancy testing.” The organizations that are eligible cannot “provide abortions or abortion-related services or make referrals to abortion providers; is not affiliated with an organization that provides abortions or abortion-related services or makes referrals to abortion providers; and does not contract with an organization that provides abortions or abortion-related services or makes referrals to abortion providers.” This bill is specifically design to support crisis pregnancy centers which studies have shown to be ineffective and offer little or no actual medical services.
Public’s View on Abortion:
Abortion was not a major issue in this year’s election, in fact social issues where not the wedge issues that they have been in previous elections. According to a Gallup Poll only 13% of those surveyed held the opinion that a candidate must share their opinion on abortion to gain their vote, while 37% felt that abortion was not a major issue and 49% viewed abortion as just one of many important factors. It is likely that the voters that make up the 13% are either steadfastly pro-choice or pro-life, and those groups are on the left and right flanks of both party and do not decide elections.
In CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll (Aug. 29-31, 2008) conducted this year 53% of those polls identified themselves as pro-choice while 44% identified themselves as pro-life. However the same poll conducted a year prior found that 45% of those polled identified themselves as pro-choice while 50% identified themselves as pro-life. Whether or not someone identifies themselves as pro-choice or pro-life does not begin to delve into the complexity of the issue. According to a Gallup Poll 40% of Americans view abortion as morally acceptable while 48% percent believe it is moral wrong, which means that whether or not someone self identifies as pro-choice or pro-life does not necessarily correspond to a clear distinction of their view of the morality of abortion.
While the views of the public on abortion as a moral issue may be ambiguous, the majority of Americans do share the few that abortion should remain legal. In an ABC News/Washington Post Poll (Aug. 19-22, 2008) 54% of those polled agreed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while only 18% agreed that abortion should be legal in all cases. In fact over the last twelve years that same poll has found that on average %18.6 of those polled felt that abortion should be legal in all cases. In a Quinnipiac University Poll (July 8-13, 2008) when asked if “in general, do you agree or disagree with the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to an abortion” 63% of those surveyed agreed.
So while much of the public may grapple with the moral implications of abortion and to what extent abortion should be legally made available, the majority of the public believes that abortion should not be made completely illegal.
The framing of the abortion debate by the anti-choice movement may change, because the anti-choice movement is driven by the far right conservatives. How the Republican party emerges after the defeats of the last two elections will in part determine the direction that the anti-choice movement takes. If the intellectual conservatives and the moderates in the Republican Party take control of the direction that the GOP it is possible that the anti-choice movement will lose influence and become less of a factor. However, if the ultra conservatives gain control then the wedge issues and the far right fridge elements will push the debate.
The shape of the abortion debate and reproductive rights will change in the next year, and it will continue to change as medical and technology advances pose new moral questions. The pro-choice movement must now focus on preventing the eroding of reproductive rights and continue to protect choice. This is the fundamental tenant of the pro-choice movement; the choice should remain.
Reproductive rights will continue to be an important issue and the public debate may intensify in the next year, despite electing a pro-choice President, having Democratic majorities in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and defeating anti-choice legislation in California, Colorado, and North Dakota. The defeats that the anti-choice movement has been handed this year will galvanize the activist in that movement, even though for the first time in eight years the anti-choice movement will be on the outside looking in.
Legislating Choice:
There are four bills in the Texas legislature that have been pre-filed that concern reproductive rights. Vince at Capitol Annex reported on the “informed consent” bills that have been filed in both the Texas House and Senate, and pointed to studies that showed the literature that women are subjected to are flawed and have to potential to misinform women:
“An analysis of these state-developed materials demonstrates that they do not always measure up to the gold standard of informed consent. Particularly with regard to certain hot-button issues, the information presented is either out-of-date, biased or both. In some cases, the state goes so far as to include information that is patently inaccurate or incomplete, lending credence to the charge that states' abortion counseling mandates are sometimes intended less to inform women about the abortion procedure than to discourage them from seeking abortions altogether.”
HB 36, authored by Representative Frank Corte (R-122), was pre-filed last month and would remove the exception of a medical emergency from the current consent law; meaning that even if condition exist that necessitates the immediate abortion of her pregnancy to avert her death the pregnant woman must be subjected to “informed consent.” The bill states that the pregnant woman must be informed of the medical risk of abortion when “medically accurate” including the false claim of the “possibility of increased risk of breast cancer following an induced abortion and the natural protective effect of a completed pregnancy in avoiding breast cancer.”
Another bill that was pre-filed in the State Senate is SB 182, authored by Senator Dan Patrick (R-7); the bill is identical to HB 36.
Corte also authored HB 44, which would require a pharmacist inform a customer seeking to purchase emergency contraception that it will “prevent the fertilization of an egg; or the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.” This would legalize intimidation of customers seeking a legal contraceptive, like what has recently been reported in an incident at an Oxford, Mississippi Walgreens. Also, businesses which sell emergency contraception would be required to post the following sign:
“If you believe that life beings at fertilization – the point where the sperm and egg unite – then you need to know that emergency contraception may either function as a contraceptive to prevent the egg and sperm from uniting or prevent the implantation of your already fertilized egg in your womb. The pharmacist dispensing this drug is required to explain to you how the product may help to prevent your pregnancy.”
HB 109, authored by Representative Larry Phillips (R-62), would authorize the Department of Transportation to issue “Choose Life” license plates, and establish a “Choose Life” account to donate money to an eligible organization to “provide counseling, training, advertising, and pregnancy testing.” The organizations that are eligible cannot “provide abortions or abortion-related services or make referrals to abortion providers; is not affiliated with an organization that provides abortions or abortion-related services or makes referrals to abortion providers; and does not contract with an organization that provides abortions or abortion-related services or makes referrals to abortion providers.” This bill is specifically design to support crisis pregnancy centers which studies have shown to be ineffective and offer little or no actual medical services.
Public’s View on Abortion:
Abortion was not a major issue in this year’s election, in fact social issues where not the wedge issues that they have been in previous elections. According to a Gallup Poll only 13% of those surveyed held the opinion that a candidate must share their opinion on abortion to gain their vote, while 37% felt that abortion was not a major issue and 49% viewed abortion as just one of many important factors. It is likely that the voters that make up the 13% are either steadfastly pro-choice or pro-life, and those groups are on the left and right flanks of both party and do not decide elections.
In CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll (Aug. 29-31, 2008) conducted this year 53% of those polls identified themselves as pro-choice while 44% identified themselves as pro-life. However the same poll conducted a year prior found that 45% of those polled identified themselves as pro-choice while 50% identified themselves as pro-life. Whether or not someone identifies themselves as pro-choice or pro-life does not begin to delve into the complexity of the issue. According to a Gallup Poll 40% of Americans view abortion as morally acceptable while 48% percent believe it is moral wrong, which means that whether or not someone self identifies as pro-choice or pro-life does not necessarily correspond to a clear distinction of their view of the morality of abortion.
While the views of the public on abortion as a moral issue may be ambiguous, the majority of Americans do share the few that abortion should remain legal. In an ABC News/Washington Post Poll (Aug. 19-22, 2008) 54% of those polled agreed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while only 18% agreed that abortion should be legal in all cases. In fact over the last twelve years that same poll has found that on average %18.6 of those polled felt that abortion should be legal in all cases. In a Quinnipiac University Poll (July 8-13, 2008) when asked if “in general, do you agree or disagree with the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that established a woman's right to an abortion” 63% of those surveyed agreed.
So while much of the public may grapple with the moral implications of abortion and to what extent abortion should be legally made available, the majority of the public believes that abortion should not be made completely illegal.
The framing of the abortion debate by the anti-choice movement may change, because the anti-choice movement is driven by the far right conservatives. How the Republican party emerges after the defeats of the last two elections will in part determine the direction that the anti-choice movement takes. If the intellectual conservatives and the moderates in the Republican Party take control of the direction that the GOP it is possible that the anti-choice movement will lose influence and become less of a factor. However, if the ultra conservatives gain control then the wedge issues and the far right fridge elements will push the debate.
The shape of the abortion debate and reproductive rights will change in the next year, and it will continue to change as medical and technology advances pose new moral questions. The pro-choice movement must now focus on preventing the eroding of reproductive rights and continue to protect choice. This is the fundamental tenant of the pro-choice movement; the choice should remain.
Headlines: Obama and Latino Cabinet Possibilities
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US Interrogator in Iraq Says Torture Policy Has Led to Deaths of Thousands of American Soldiers
Economy
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Education
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Not in My Neighborhood: To temper premature talk of a post-race America, just look down your street.
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Capitol Annex:
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Eye on Williamson:
Human Rights Advocates to Speak Out against Detention of Infants and Children in Williamson County
South Texas Chisme:
Republicans are on the Wrong Side of the Issues
Richardson's consolation prize?
Noriega Meets With Obama; Job Offer Could Be Coming
Hispanic Caucus Pushing Rick Noriega for Obama Cabinet
Politics
Is Harry Reid Going Down?
MN-Senate: Counting Chaos!
War and Peace
US Interrogator in Iraq Says Torture Policy Has Led to Deaths of Thousands of American Soldiers
Economy
Depression Economics
Education
Illinois Schools On Uneven Field
Race
Not in My Neighborhood: To temper premature talk of a post-race America, just look down your street.
Choice
The Pro-Lie Movement Targets Hillary
Women’s Issues
Activists Expect Clinton to Propel Women's Rights
GLBT Issues
Mormon Homophobia: Up Close and Personal
From the Blogs
Capitol Annex:
Best & Worst Of 2008: Leftover Turkeys Of The Year
Eye on Williamson:
Human Rights Advocates to Speak Out against Detention of Infants and Children in Williamson County
South Texas Chisme:
Republicans are on the Wrong Side of the Issues
Local News: Nonprofit Major Launched at Baylor
Sphere: Related Content
Nonprofit Major Puts Twist on Learning
By Jessica Belmares (Copy Editor)
From the Baylor University Lariat
Finally, students who enjoy stewardship and civic service can prepare themselves for a career through a new major offered through this year's undergraduate catalogue.
The fall catalogue for 2008-2009 was the first catalogue in Baylor's history to offer a major in marketing through the nonprofit and development track for undergraduate students and is the only university to offer this major, said Charles S. Madden, Ben H. Williams professor of marketing and director of the Baylor Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Service.
A course currently offered, Nonprofit Marketing, was offered back in the early '90s, and there are master's programs that have been around for 25 or 30 years, but never a program such as this, Madden said.
"Choosing nonprofit as a career path is relatively new," Madden said. "People would lead United Way or Red Cross but would never think of it as a career path. A lot of discipline for nonprofits has developed in the last 20 to 25 years."
Madden said the center thought the nonprofit and development track would be a graduate level discipline, but they came to the conclusion this could probably affect more students at the undergraduate level.
"People get interested in nonprofit somewhere along the way because of personal interest," he said. "Years later they realize they don't have much background. Some of them go back and get master's degrees, but that still doesn't prepare students coming out of undergraduate school to be prepared to lead and develop nonprofit organizations."
Students can major in marketing through the nonprofit and development track by completing 24 hours of coursework in that discipline. Some courses that are currently offered are Professional Selling and Communicating for Nonprofit Organizations, Nonprofit Marketing, and Stakeholder Data Management for Nonprofit Organization.
These courses give students a chance not only to learn, but to gain real world experience working for nonprofit organizations, Madden said.
Directed Studies in Marketing, a project course offered for Spring 2009, provides students a chance to work with a nonprofit organization and help to market or raise funds for that organization, Madden said. Students registering to take this course in the spring will be working with KWBU, a public television and radio program serving central Texas.
In the spring, students who took the project course worked with World Hunger Relief, Inc., a Christian organization committed to the alleviation of hunger around the world, according to www.worldhungerrelief.org.
"Fundraising is critical," said Neil Rowe Miller, executive director of World Hunger Relief, Inc. "We always have a need for skilled and unskilled labor in the front. Students come and work alongside interns and volunteers as well as our professional staff labor. It's just a really big help."
San Antonio entrepreneurship and marketing major senior Kenneth Cook took the project class in the spring and helped World Hunger Relief.
"I learned very quickly that the people that work there are there for the sheer fact that this is what they love to do," Cook said. "They have a very strong dedication and this Christian spirit of selflessness."
Cook said it's very possible he will be using what he learned from this course when he graduates and begins his career.
"I hope in the future to start a nonprofit wildlife farm," Cook said. "This course gave me a better understanding of how to raise capital and the process to gain funding."
Even students who major outside of the business school can minor in marketing through the nonprofit and development track.
"We found the big thing that everyone wants to do is raise money," Madden said.
The Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Service surveyed several hundreds of nonprofit organizations, including Red Cross, and asked them under what conditions they would hire students directly out of college, Madden said.
"It came back very strongly they would hire them into their fundraising area and that they have trouble finding people who have undergraduate preparation and the desire to do that," he said.
Madden has been a faculty member since 1983 and has served as vice president for university marketing and university relations. Madden said when he finished, he came back to the business school because that is what he really felt committed to do.
"This is my passion -- to see people prepared for leadership," Madden said. "We care to see (students) working, but more for just working for something they really care about."
Published on Wednesday, November 3, 2008
By Jessica Belmares (Copy Editor)
From the Baylor University Lariat
Finally, students who enjoy stewardship and civic service can prepare themselves for a career through a new major offered through this year's undergraduate catalogue.
The fall catalogue for 2008-2009 was the first catalogue in Baylor's history to offer a major in marketing through the nonprofit and development track for undergraduate students and is the only university to offer this major, said Charles S. Madden, Ben H. Williams professor of marketing and director of the Baylor Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Service.
A course currently offered, Nonprofit Marketing, was offered back in the early '90s, and there are master's programs that have been around for 25 or 30 years, but never a program such as this, Madden said.
"Choosing nonprofit as a career path is relatively new," Madden said. "People would lead United Way or Red Cross but would never think of it as a career path. A lot of discipline for nonprofits has developed in the last 20 to 25 years."
Madden said the center thought the nonprofit and development track would be a graduate level discipline, but they came to the conclusion this could probably affect more students at the undergraduate level.
"People get interested in nonprofit somewhere along the way because of personal interest," he said. "Years later they realize they don't have much background. Some of them go back and get master's degrees, but that still doesn't prepare students coming out of undergraduate school to be prepared to lead and develop nonprofit organizations."
Students can major in marketing through the nonprofit and development track by completing 24 hours of coursework in that discipline. Some courses that are currently offered are Professional Selling and Communicating for Nonprofit Organizations, Nonprofit Marketing, and Stakeholder Data Management for Nonprofit Organization.
These courses give students a chance not only to learn, but to gain real world experience working for nonprofit organizations, Madden said.
Directed Studies in Marketing, a project course offered for Spring 2009, provides students a chance to work with a nonprofit organization and help to market or raise funds for that organization, Madden said. Students registering to take this course in the spring will be working with KWBU, a public television and radio program serving central Texas.
In the spring, students who took the project course worked with World Hunger Relief, Inc., a Christian organization committed to the alleviation of hunger around the world, according to www.worldhungerrelief.org.
"Fundraising is critical," said Neil Rowe Miller, executive director of World Hunger Relief, Inc. "We always have a need for skilled and unskilled labor in the front. Students come and work alongside interns and volunteers as well as our professional staff labor. It's just a really big help."
San Antonio entrepreneurship and marketing major senior Kenneth Cook took the project class in the spring and helped World Hunger Relief.
"I learned very quickly that the people that work there are there for the sheer fact that this is what they love to do," Cook said. "They have a very strong dedication and this Christian spirit of selflessness."
Cook said it's very possible he will be using what he learned from this course when he graduates and begins his career.
"I hope in the future to start a nonprofit wildlife farm," Cook said. "This course gave me a better understanding of how to raise capital and the process to gain funding."
Even students who major outside of the business school can minor in marketing through the nonprofit and development track.
"We found the big thing that everyone wants to do is raise money," Madden said.
The Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Service surveyed several hundreds of nonprofit organizations, including Red Cross, and asked them under what conditions they would hire students directly out of college, Madden said.
"It came back very strongly they would hire them into their fundraising area and that they have trouble finding people who have undergraduate preparation and the desire to do that," he said.
Madden has been a faculty member since 1983 and has served as vice president for university marketing and university relations. Madden said when he finished, he came back to the business school because that is what he really felt committed to do.
"This is my passion -- to see people prepared for leadership," Madden said. "We care to see (students) working, but more for just working for something they really care about."
Published on Wednesday, November 3, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Headlines
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Going to College & Grad School Looks Like a Disaster
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Ban the Cluster Bomb
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Broader Medical Refusal Rule May Go Far Beyond Abortion
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Justices to Hear School Sex Harassment Case
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Combating the Effects of Proposition 102 and Other Anti-GLBT Issues
From the Blogs
Firedoglake:
How the Media Convinced Themselves Obama Was a Liberal
Vet Voice:
Webb Looks to Re-Start Dwell Time Debate
South Texas Chisme:
The Push is on for a Valley VA Hospital
A World of Trouble Awaits Obama
The End of the Iraq Debate (For Now)
Obama's Big Tent
Politics
Skewed Priorities: The Bailout Dwarfs Spending on Poverty and Climate Crises
Could Muslims Swing the Georgia Runoff?
Celebrities Stump in Georgia Senate Runoff
Administration
Bush Still Lies about Iraqi Inspections
Media
Endangered Species
Culture
In E-mail, the Truth Is E-lastic
Education
Going to College & Grad School Looks Like a Disaster
Economy
Is Economic Growth the Answer?
Civil Rights
Ban the Cluster Bomb
Choice
Broader Medical Refusal Rule May Go Far Beyond Abortion
Women’s Issues
Justices to Hear School Sex Harassment Case
GLBT Issues
Combating the Effects of Proposition 102 and Other Anti-GLBT Issues
From the Blogs
Firedoglake:
How the Media Convinced Themselves Obama Was a Liberal
Vet Voice:
Webb Looks to Re-Start Dwell Time Debate
South Texas Chisme:
The Push is on for a Valley VA Hospital
Local News: Maroon to Green
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A&M Goes Green With Garbage
By: Megan Keyho
From the Texas A&M University Battalion
Student demand helped motivate the Texas A&M administration to place five solar trash compactors on campus, using green technology to keep the A&M campus cleaner.
Unlike standard trashcans, these solar trash compactors, located around the Memorial Student Center, Rudder Tower, Sbisa, the Commons and Evans Library, use only solar energy to compact trash, enabling them to hold five times the amount of a standard container.
"The big belly units are part of a pilot program," said Kelly Wellman, the sustainability officer for A&M. "We are usinggreen technology to compact the trash. It compacts at a five to one ratio meaning the solar trash compactor can hold as much as five regular trashcans sitting by side."
There is an attached unit at each location for plastic bottles.
"Most beverage containers on campus are plastic bottles and there are logistical challenges associated with plastics. We want to divert plastics out of the waste stream so we included these units," Wellman said.
It was the staff and the student body that initiated the ideas for the plastics recycling. "Student demand is really a big motivator but so many people have helped make this happen," she said. "It is really a team effort with many different departments. A lot of people are thinking outside the boxes and doing things they aren't normally used to doing."
"It is so new that we haven't really gotten started picking it up yet," said A&M recycling coordinator Tom Marshall whose role is picking up after the plastics have been compacted. "A lot of students and faculty requested plastics recycling and our department is about to start all over campus. Plastics are going to end up being a big thing."
He said plastics are important because of the need to keep as much out of the landfills as possible. With the technology implemented on campus, this is now helping to do that, he said.
With students and faculty being more environmentally conscious the department is receiving a lot of positive feedback for the project.
"With the positive feedback received the departments are excited to be moving forward. In the spring, the recycling companies are expanding the plastics recycling to inside buildings. In the long run it is really about operational efficiency," Wellman said.
Some students said they hope the project works out and will stay on campus.
"Recycling plastics on campus is a great idea. I was excited to see the staff take the initiative to start this project and I really hope that it works out and expands as much as possible," said Brad Norwood, a junior maritime systems engineering major.
Published on Tuesday, December 02, 2008
By: Megan Keyho
From the Texas A&M University Battalion
Student demand helped motivate the Texas A&M administration to place five solar trash compactors on campus, using green technology to keep the A&M campus cleaner.
Unlike standard trashcans, these solar trash compactors, located around the Memorial Student Center, Rudder Tower, Sbisa, the Commons and Evans Library, use only solar energy to compact trash, enabling them to hold five times the amount of a standard container.
"The big belly units are part of a pilot program," said Kelly Wellman, the sustainability officer for A&M. "We are usinggreen technology to compact the trash. It compacts at a five to one ratio meaning the solar trash compactor can hold as much as five regular trashcans sitting by side."
There is an attached unit at each location for plastic bottles.
"Most beverage containers on campus are plastic bottles and there are logistical challenges associated with plastics. We want to divert plastics out of the waste stream so we included these units," Wellman said.
It was the staff and the student body that initiated the ideas for the plastics recycling. "Student demand is really a big motivator but so many people have helped make this happen," she said. "It is really a team effort with many different departments. A lot of people are thinking outside the boxes and doing things they aren't normally used to doing."
"It is so new that we haven't really gotten started picking it up yet," said A&M recycling coordinator Tom Marshall whose role is picking up after the plastics have been compacted. "A lot of students and faculty requested plastics recycling and our department is about to start all over campus. Plastics are going to end up being a big thing."
He said plastics are important because of the need to keep as much out of the landfills as possible. With the technology implemented on campus, this is now helping to do that, he said.
With students and faculty being more environmentally conscious the department is receiving a lot of positive feedback for the project.
"With the positive feedback received the departments are excited to be moving forward. In the spring, the recycling companies are expanding the plastics recycling to inside buildings. In the long run it is really about operational efficiency," Wellman said.
Some students said they hope the project works out and will stay on campus.
"Recycling plastics on campus is a great idea. I was excited to see the staff take the initiative to start this project and I really hope that it works out and expands as much as possible," said Brad Norwood, a junior maritime systems engineering major.
Published on Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Moving to the Front Page…
Sphere: Related Content
On Election night Bryan City Council member Al Saenz asked me why I was a Democrat, that night I was unable to articulate the exact reasoning behind my particular political ideology. The truth is my beliefs cannot be simply described by the name of the political party that I belong to or even by the political label that I apply to myself. The ideals that form the structure of my political beliefs are never simple, but the ideals by which we form our political ideas should never be simple; if only because life and the human experience are anything but simple.
After blogging and writing diaries for the last sixth months I have been asked to become a writer for the front page of the Texas Kaos, and I feel honored to be embraced in this way by the by the political blogosphere in Texas. I hope that I can add just one more voice to the debate, and lend one more hand to the activist efforts. Remember that together we can change things; we can be the change that we want to see in this world.
Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.
-Margaret Mead
After blogging and writing diaries for the last sixth months I have been asked to become a writer for the front page of the Texas Kaos, and I feel honored to be embraced in this way by the by the political blogosphere in Texas. I hope that I can add just one more voice to the debate, and lend one more hand to the activist efforts. Remember that together we can change things; we can be the change that we want to see in this world.
Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have.
-Margaret Mead
Headlines: Terrorism, Hate Crimes, and Honor Killings
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The Right's War on Regulators
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Live Blogging the Mumbai Attacks
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In the Tank?
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Capturing the Ocean’s Energy
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Health Care: It's Time for a Major Overhaul
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From the Blogs
Dos Centavos:
The Parting Gift for Gov. Bill?
Greg’s Opinion:
Wiki-Time
North Texas Liberal:
The Obama Administration
The Hope for Audacity
Obama's Plan to End the HIV Crisis
Obama’s National Security Team Will Face Multiple Challenges
Politics
The Right's War on Regulators
War and Peace
Live Blogging the Mumbai Attacks
Media
In the Tank?
Environment
Capturing the Ocean’s Energy
Health
Health Care: It's Time for a Major Overhaul
Faith
Another Catholic Pastor Labels Voting for Obama a Sin
Civil Rights
Hitmen Charge $100 a Victim as Basra Honor Killings Rise
Race
I'm Not Post-Racial
Immigration
Dobbs Minimizes Impact of Hate Crimes, Bashes Immigrant Rights Groups
Women’s Issues
Plastic Surgery (Thankfully) Is Under the Knife
From the Blogs
Dos Centavos:
The Parting Gift for Gov. Bill?
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Local News: Thanksgiving at Twin City Mission
Sphere: Related Content
Well Worth It
By Cassie Smith
From the Bryan-College Station Eagle
For 12-year-old Conner Smith, Thanksgiving is about having fun and making people smile.
That's why he chose to join his family in volunteering at Twin City Mission on the holiday and plans to do it for many years to come.
"Just watching them be happy when we give them stuff, that's my favorite," the College Station boy said.
The mission on Thursday served 815 meals complete with dressing, sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, green beans, a dessert and, of course, turkey.
It's just one more thing to do to help eliminate the daily stress for those struggling with the economy by providing a traditional meal for those in need so they can take time to pause and give thanks, said Ron Crozier, Twin City Mission community relations director.
"A lot of these families just don't have access to what you and I consider a regular meal," he said.
The number of meals prepared at the mission has doubled over the past 10 years, he said. Residents began calling in August to sign up to help with the holiday meal, he said.
Crozier understands that feeling. There's something about seeing people's smiles as they eat the meals that moves his heart.
"I've had other jobs more financially rewarding, careers; none of them compared to working here," he said.
Traditional Thanksgiving meals could be found across the county.
Brazos Valley Food Bank volunteers provided food for as many as 1,100 people, while Epicures Catering prepared food and delivered it for free. Members of Peace Lutheran Church cooked and distributed about 80 pies.
"There really shouldn't be anybody in our community that doesn't get to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal," Crozier said.
He said those at the mission prepared more meals this year because of the economy's decline. Last year, they served 675 meals, he said.
Réal Brideau said that though he might not see peace on Earth in his lifetime he still was thankful for a lot of things.
"Just still being alive, have a good meal with good friends and good company," he said between bites of stuffing.
Brideau, who was eating at the mission for at least the second year, said he was thankful for the Thanksgiving meal and being able to eat it with friends.
But that's not the main reason Brideau eats at the mission for the holiday, he said.
What makes it so special is seeing the genuine smiles and enthusiasm of the volunteers who work there, he said.
"I think they are going to go straight to heaven," he said. "They do it because they like it -- that's cool. [It's] not because they have to."
Conner's mother, Michele Smith, said her family had been volunteering on Thanksgiving for the past eight years.
"It would not be Thanksgiving if we didn't come here to serve," she said. "It's just something our family loves to do."
Not only does the mission staff expect them each year, Smith said. Many people who eat regularly at the mission recognize her family.
"It's our consistency, I think, that shows we care and we mean what we do," she said. "We're not going to forget about these people."
Published Friday, November 28, 2008
By Cassie Smith
From the Bryan-College Station Eagle
For 12-year-old Conner Smith, Thanksgiving is about having fun and making people smile.
That's why he chose to join his family in volunteering at Twin City Mission on the holiday and plans to do it for many years to come.
"Just watching them be happy when we give them stuff, that's my favorite," the College Station boy said.
The mission on Thursday served 815 meals complete with dressing, sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, green beans, a dessert and, of course, turkey.
It's just one more thing to do to help eliminate the daily stress for those struggling with the economy by providing a traditional meal for those in need so they can take time to pause and give thanks, said Ron Crozier, Twin City Mission community relations director.
"A lot of these families just don't have access to what you and I consider a regular meal," he said.
The number of meals prepared at the mission has doubled over the past 10 years, he said. Residents began calling in August to sign up to help with the holiday meal, he said.
Crozier understands that feeling. There's something about seeing people's smiles as they eat the meals that moves his heart.
"I've had other jobs more financially rewarding, careers; none of them compared to working here," he said.
Traditional Thanksgiving meals could be found across the county.
Brazos Valley Food Bank volunteers provided food for as many as 1,100 people, while Epicures Catering prepared food and delivered it for free. Members of Peace Lutheran Church cooked and distributed about 80 pies.
"There really shouldn't be anybody in our community that doesn't get to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal," Crozier said.
He said those at the mission prepared more meals this year because of the economy's decline. Last year, they served 675 meals, he said.
Réal Brideau said that though he might not see peace on Earth in his lifetime he still was thankful for a lot of things.
"Just still being alive, have a good meal with good friends and good company," he said between bites of stuffing.
Brideau, who was eating at the mission for at least the second year, said he was thankful for the Thanksgiving meal and being able to eat it with friends.
But that's not the main reason Brideau eats at the mission for the holiday, he said.
What makes it so special is seeing the genuine smiles and enthusiasm of the volunteers who work there, he said.
"I think they are going to go straight to heaven," he said. "They do it because they like it -- that's cool. [It's] not because they have to."
Conner's mother, Michele Smith, said her family had been volunteering on Thanksgiving for the past eight years.
"It would not be Thanksgiving if we didn't come here to serve," she said. "It's just something our family loves to do."
Not only does the mission staff expect them each year, Smith said. Many people who eat regularly at the mission recognize her family.
"It's our consistency, I think, that shows we care and we mean what we do," she said. "We're not going to forget about these people."
Published Friday, November 28, 2008
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