Letter To The Editor
An Open Letter to: Dear Senator McCain I repeat my letter of June 29 and am registering it. Like many of your constituents, and not a few supporters, I wonder why you, along with many other senators, are “fiddling while Rome burns.” You certainly know what I mean by that metaphor. The mighty United States Senate is busy, again, debating flag-burning and gay marriage amendments to the U.S. Constitution while potential disaster exists in many places around the world: specifically, Iraq, Darfour, Iran, North Korea, and not least in the budget process of United States. Have politics and small thinking become dominant in your building, the ambience of the great Barkleys, Haydens, and Russells? Many of us who know Washington well, some like I, having worked one way or another for U.S. Presidents of both parties, wonder what is going on in the White House: snoopers reading our correspondence, maybe examining our bank accounts, especially those of us who have traveled or have worked extensively abroad. Many armed service veterans, some even disabled in other wars, myself among them, wonder also how you in particular can go along (without speaking out) with this Administration and its secretive assault on our liberties, all in the name of an endless, often vague, cry of “We
The Honorable John McCain
United States Senate
241 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0303
This Nation
This Nation
Wagging the Dog to World War Three
Wagging the Dog to World War Three
Professional Prologue
In the early days of the Bush League crusade into Iraq I wrote two essays that predicted where things were heading. The first of these, written in April, 2003, was Visions of Stalingrad: Claim victory in Iraq now: <http://www.ghosttroop.net/stalingrad.htm>, flatly predicted an endless quicksand war, and warned of a world war
When Looking Ahead, Look No Further Than Your Behind
When Looking Ahead, Look No Further Than Your Behind There was a time when, in order to promote an important issue through a week of “National Awareness,” you actually needed to have an issue that was important
King George And The Moral Boundary
King George And The Moral Boundary “This bill (H.R. 810) would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of funding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it.”
Toll Roads And The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA)
Toll Roads And The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) Medicine Peddlers On A Mission! According to its website at <http://www.ctrma.org>, “The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) is an independent government agency created in January 2003 to improve the transportation system in Williamson and Travis Counties. Our mission is to implement innovative multi-moda transportation solutions that reduce congestion and create transportation choices that enhance quality of life and economic vitality. The Mobility Authority is overseen by a seven-member Board of Directors. The Chairman is appointed by the governor. The County Commissioners of Travis and Williamson County each appoint three board members. The Mobility Authority employs a small professional staff of 11 led by an executive director. The Mobility Authority uses private sector contractors with specialized expertise to provide staffing support for individual projects.” An interesting bit of news is that one of the first full toll project is in Northern Travis County, which is soon to be completed. Toll tags currently are on sale and are placed on the windshield of a vehicle so that it may proceed through the toll booths without stopping to pay the tolls. Another interesting tidbit is that despite that the toll road is in Travis County, most on the CTRMA Board are Williamson County residents. By the way, there are few toll roads slated for Williamson County
Get An Earring, Join The Lawsuit
Get An Earring, Join The Lawsuit A legal action was taken the other day that is so outrageous that it actually gives frivolous lawsuits a bad name. Allen Heckard, of Portland Oregon, is suing Michael Jordan and Nike because Heckard claims that he
Texas Prisons Were Hell On Earth
Texas Prisons Were Hell On Earth After a guided tour of the Texas Prison System on July 16, 1931, a county sheriff with a sick sense of humor or very poor eyesight expressed the opinion that “some men really enjoy themselves here.” The Lone Star lockup was a barbaric embarrassment from the beginning. Gov. Richard Coke remarked in 1873, “A personal visit to the penitentiary has impressed upon me the conviction that a serious defect exists in our prison system,” and added he was particularly appalled by “the promiscuous mingling of children from nine years old upwards with old, depraved, and hardened criminals.” Following the example of other southern states, Texas already was “leasing” inmates to private businesses. This controversial practice thrived for the rest of the nineteenth century because the income from convict rentals covered the entire cost of the penal operation. Law-abiding citizens were sickened by the horror stories of inmate mistreatment but generally felt criminals got what was coming to them even when it meant a death sentence for a petty offense. Sanitation and medical care were strangers to the private work camps, and conditions were not much better in the penitentiary at Huntsville. Just over 2,000 prisoners perished from disease, neglect and abuse between 1876 and 1899, while another 3,000 chose not to stick around. Breakouts were so common that in a single year one out of six inmates successfully escaped. Leasing was phased out in the early 1900s in favor of state-owned plantations. By World War I, there were 10 prison farms in Brazoria County, two in Fort Bend County, and one in Houston County. Contrary to popular myth, however, agriculture did not achieve the penologist dream of self-sufficiency, and the TPS invariably ended the year in the red. Only “The Walls,” the central unit in Huntsville, had cells. On the farms inmates lived like sardines in 40-x-100 foot black holes of Calcutta called “tanks.” Designed for a maximum occupancy of 60 convicts, the overcrowded cubicles often contained 150. Prisoners were segregated by race but not according to age, crime and sexual appetite. Young first offenders were at the mercy of psychopaths, perverts, and career criminals. Guards rarely set foot in the inmate quarters leaving it up to “building tenders” to keep fellow convicts in line. These bullies with a blank check terrorized the tanks with sawed-off baseball bats, knives, and an arsenal of improvised weapons. The guards were no angels either. A prison board member on a visit to the Darrington farm spoke to “a youngster whose ankle had been smashed by a .38-caliber slug fired into the tank by a guard to frighten another prisoner who had called him a dirty name. I also saw a prisoner ruthlessly shot by a guard because he forgot to shout
Embryonically Speaking…
Embryonically Speaking… I learned a lesson from the Texas Department of Transportation this past week when I spoke at a public hearing challenging the Trans-Texas Corridor. The corridor that would affect Central Texas is called TTC 35. Numerous public hearings are being held around the state, and a complaint from TxDOT that I had read about prior to my excursion was that not enough alternative suggestions were being offered from the public. So, I got together with some folks who intimately know the highway systems in Texas and spent several hours devising an alternate plan that would negate the need for the corridor. We were given three minutes for oral testimony at the hearing. My talk apparently would have taken about six, so I was interrupted twice by the moderator and was forced to cut it short, which is hard to do and provide a comprehensive alternative. I was offered the opportunity to put my comments in writing or to go to the back of the bus and finish my comments at the end of the program. Therefore, now I
EARTHQUAKES: Global Warming or HAARP?
EARTHQUAKES:
The incidence of historic worldwide earthquakes seems to be increasing, especially since 2002.
At least according to statistics rendered by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The USGS website lists high magnitude earthquakes by year, and this is a sampling, with the year and how many:
Lawsuit Challenging Spy Program Proceeds
SAN FRANCISCO
War on Terror
WASHINGTON
Cutting
WASHINGTON
The Contender — Interview With Barbara Ann Radnofsky, Democratic Candidate For U.S. Senate
Interview With Barbara Ann Radnofsky,
Democratic Candidate For U.S. Senate
CRAWFORD Barbara Ann Radnofsky is a lawyer, mediator, volunteer, teacher, mother, and wife, but come Nov. 7, she wants to add another title to her list:
U.S. Senator of Texas.
In fact, if she wins, she’ll be the first-ever Texas Democratic woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
To get it, she will have to knock out Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a three-term Republican who Radnofsky says hasn’t been acting very Texan as of late.
At the Texas Democratic Convention in Fort Worth in June, the Houstonite pointed out that her opponent relocated her primary address to Virginia.
As a send off for the senator, Radnofsky packed a “Welcome to Virginia” tote bag whose contents included cans of Alaskan salmon, which served a reminder of Hutchison’s support of the “Bridge To Nowhere” bill authored by Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska. To view her convention speech, visit her website or <YouTube.com>.
Humor aside, Radnofsky told the Iconoclast last week that she is serious about the wasteful spending and corruption in Washington. And it would seem that she is off to a good start, being that she won the run-off to the Democratic primary by 60 percent.
Iconoclast editor-in-chief W. Leon Smith spoke with Radnofsky about her loyalties to Texans and military veterans, her views on the privatization of government and the separation of powers in the three branches, and her opponent’s falling popularity.
………
ICONOCLAST: If elected to the U.S. Senate, will your loyalties lie with the Senate or with Texas? How important is institutional patriotism?
BARBARA ANN RADNOFSKY: My loyalties would be with Texans in the state of Texas. I feel strongly about that and the particular question because I think we suffer now from those who are beholden to certain institutions that are unrelated really to the needs of Texans.
ICONOCLAST: Are you concerned about the disappearance of oversight of federal governmental agencies?
RADNOFSKY: Absolutely, to a great degree.
ICONOCLAST: What would be a good fix for that?
RADNOFSKY: I think by way of example some of the key agencies responsible for safety in the workplace OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been gutted in terms of its abilities. FDA is another excellent example. This deals with our everyday safety. It is not an expensive proposition to give adequate pay and adequate enforcement powers to these agencies. It is not an intrusion on our life. It makes our lives safer, and the drugs we take safer.
ICONOCLAST: You think having a legal background would be a huge benefit in being able to put the United States back on track as far as oversight goes?
RADNOFSKY: Yes, I do think it’s an advantage to have some training in reading laws, but I will say I think its just as helpful to be an interested mother, interested teacher, interested wife I’ve had to give my kids and I have had to see my husband come home my husband is a physician, but physicians like any worker are subject to on-the-job injuries and problems, so I think living in the real world is perhaps just as useful as having a 27-year law background.
ICONOCLAST: What about th
