Speed Limits To Increase In Texas
HOUSTON — On Sept. 1, Texas will eliminate a years-long practice of posting different daytime and nighttime speed limits.
This change has been a long time coming, according to Henry B. Stowe, an activist for the National Motorists Association.
The National Motorists Association (www.motorists.org) was instrumental in repealing the National Maximum speed limit in 1995. Traffic engineers use speed studies to determine correct speed limits for different roadway segments. The primary factor is the prevailing speed of traffic, defined as the 85thpercentile speed. The 85thpercentile speed is where traffic accident involvement is statistically the lowest.
Stowe explains that the Texas Department of Transportation will be studying traffic flow and accident history before raising the speed limits on rural highways from 70 to 75 mph.
Stowe does not believe that every road will be changed to 75 mph. In the six-county Houston area, the 65 mph environmental speed limits will remain in effect. In Liberty County, the speed limits will not change as well.
“We believe that these arbitrary distinctions are counterproductive” Stowe said. “The Houston region, an area larger than New Jersey, will retain the 65 mph speed limit to comply with the politically compromised environmental speed limits mandated in this area.”
Stowe says that the removal of the nighttime cap of 65 mph is a constructive and needed change. However, regardless of the speed limit, drivers can insure safer night time travel by following a few practical rules:
1. Check headlight operation. ALWAYS replace burned out headlights.
2. Clean headlights before traveling. If lenses are discolored, there are commercially available restoration kits and professional shops that can restore the lenses to their original clarity.
3. Drive at speeds within your comfort zone. Remember that a speed limit is a limit, not a mandatory target that all motorists must travel. Faster traffic can always pass in the left lane
Death-Causing Ingredients Going Unlabeled
They call it “proprietary” information.
It doesn’t appear on the labels of products offered to the general public. The federal government, including the Environmental Protection Agency, are in league with corporations who don’t want you to know that their products contain highly hazardous ingredients.
Deceptive trade practices abound and the populace is left in the dark.
As an example, Scotchgard, which contains dangerous chemicals that off-gas after purchase, lists on its warning label just a smidgen of information, not the “proprietary” ingredients that supposedly protect the company from competitors finding out what’s really inside. Scotchgard products are used largely for waterproofing, but are even found in medical applications (such as use in some eyeglasses).
Consumers think these items are safe when actually they can be far from it. A company does not have to reveal the “bad chemicals” used in production that linger thereafter and do not warn of the dire consequences that can come from exposure to these items.
The Iconoclast recently interviewed a chemist/whistleblower from one of these corporations who flatly stated that most companies are allowed to keep some ingredients quiet — and these ingredients are usually those that the general public would not embrace.
“In fact,” he said, “if people knew the ingredients of what we are producing, they would be scared to death to go near the stuff. It’s highly dangerous, especially with prolonged exposure, so we don’t tell anyone the negatives of what’s in it. That’s our secret. If we were to put it on labels, nobody would buy it and we would go out of business. It’s a shame. I realize that. But we have our jobs to protect.”
He continued, “The exposure can result in horrible results over time, but how do you prove that we caused it? You can’t, really. Especially since so many companies are doing the same thing.”
The bottom line here is that all ingredients, even the proprietary ones, should appear on labels.
If you have an allergic reaction to a certain chemical and do not know that it is in the product, how do you trace what to avoid? It’s nearly impossible.
Essentially, many companies have ventured into a form of genocide by selling items that are unsafe but that our government allows, thereby nullifying questions from consumers who naturally assume that the products are safe. This act of protecting corporations who knowingly inflict health predicaments and even death on unsuspecting individuals makes elected officials in the federal government and its agencies assassins, too, for allowing this to happen.
Lobbyists have greased our public servants from squeaking the truth.
This is yet another hidden agenda that Americans must withstand, most unaware that this can change their lives…or even end them. If you get cancer or contract respiratory problems, how do you prove it was because of the chemical laden eyeglasses you wore for years that resulted in your breathing bad chemicals every day. You can’t if you have no clue that the hidden exposure was even present.
Accountability continues to be a major problem, and it won’t happen until Americans un-elect people who are owned by corporations and seat honest representatives who are willing to work for the individuals who elect them.
A movement to demand complete labels on all products would be nice, too.
Drug manufacturers wouldn’t like it though, since it would cut into their bottom line by reducing the need for so many of their products to treat inflictions caused by unlabeled products.
Just face it. Big companies control our government and we are their pawns … unless we obtain a few guts and do something about it.
— W. Leon Smith
PARTY POOPER!
Destruction Of Democratic, Republican Parties Essential For Return To Dignity
EDITOR’S NOTE – This article, published in part below, first appeared in the October 1990 edition of Underground Texas and reflects a problem that exists still today. It was written by W. Leon Smith, who at that time published Underground Texas, a short-run Texas newspaper that predated the creation of The Lone Star Iconoclast by about 10 years.
Part of one of the Underground Texas covers from 1990.
We had an interesting conversation with a Republican candidate for State Representative recently, as he was “burning shoe leather” and appealing for votes. What he was “hearing from his constituents” was that they were disgusted with both the Republican and Democratic parties and were hoping that both would self-destruct!
“They keep asking me if I agree with everything Claytie says,” he commented. “Then they ask if I’m a Bush man. And to top it off, they want to know if I find myself in line with Bill Clements. About the best I can do is tell them I agree with some of the things these guys say and do, but not all of them.”
Democrats have the same problem. “Are you a Dukakis Democrat?” the party’s candidates keep hearing…and the comparisons go on and on.
You might, off the top of your head, say that comparing Democrats to Republicans is like comparing apples to oranges. Wrong! It’s like comparing two vegetables!
Actually, both parties are inept in their ability to serve the middle class, who are the workers and earners and taxpayers in this country. The Democrats want to multiply your wealth by dividing it, while the Republicans want to give your hard-earned money to the rich and let them take care of it for you.
The Democrats want to “throw money at any and all problems.”
The Republicans want to “take money away from problem areas and starve them to death…that’ll solve the problems!”
Democrats generally edge their sentimentality toward socialism, douse it with plenty of hypocrisy, broker power among their own elite, and in general, tell a good lie.
Republicans, in general, tend to think that corruption is okay, they are social bigots (a bigger threat to Blacks than the KKK), and favor greed over conscience. They tell a bad lie.
Unfortunately, all these traits, however sadistic they may seem, are human. The players are sides on a coin…a “corporate” slug which uses these actors to keep the lowly peasant confused.
For awhile, the Democrats are in “power” and the Republicans are quick to extend blame to their opponents for all ills. Then, when the power shifts to new players, the situation is reversed for a few years. One gets us in a mess, so we naturally alternate to a lesser of evils, and the mess gets worse. Over and over again!
The problem lies not in the players necessarily, however despicable they are, but much to the system.
True, you “elect” these “choices” actually provided by PACs and they are supposed to follow your wishes with how they represent you. But do they?
Is the ever-increasing number of homeless neighbors your choice? Do you like to see the poor get poorer and the middle class slip downward? Is the IRS your friend? Do you like the way your government spends YOUR money? Do you favor wars of greed over wars of conscience? Do you like the way we’re dependent upon foreign fuel supplies? Are you REALLY secure in your life? Is your insurance company ripping you off and the government lets them do it? Will they pay if you have a major emergency claim? Why does the more and more you do require the expensive and questionable services of a lawyer or CPA? Are you one of the declining middle class who never quite qualifies for governmental assistance? Does “run-around” best describe what you get when you try to break through red tape?
These questions just kiss the surface. True security has gone the way of self-respect and dignity. They are fast becoming historical relics. The “human” aspect is as rare as a horned toad.
WHAT IF…tax returns were simplified and made fair for all groups of income earners?
What if you got to dictate on your tax returns just how your money would be spent? You set the priorities for the amount you pay! Why leave it to Congress, the Senate, and the President to decide, when every individual should have such a direct voice in the decision-making?
What if there were limited terms of office, throughout the political system?
What if Political Action Committees were silenced and the power of choice returned to individuals?
What if the term “career politician” became a thing of the past?
What if candidates were limited on how much they could spend on mass media messages or these were eliminated entirely and controlled forums were instead created?
What if officeholders were HELD TO THEIR PROMISES and could be convicted of treason and sentenced to lengthy jail terms if they did not deliver what they promised?
What if the REAL ISSUES of humanity were addressed instead of your tax money going to assure comfortable jobs for agency workers whose main objective is seeing to it that they will always have a job, hang the outward objectives?
What if the add-ons of the check and balance system were reviewed and altered to meet their original Constitutional intents?
What if the Democratic and Republican parties were purged from our system …
Unity of purpose is called for if change is to thrive. Please write this newspaper with your suggestions and thoughts. If you are willing to “carry the torch” on these and other projects, also let us know.
TRENCHWALKER….
“Remember Texas!”
We have been asked where the inspiration for Underground Texas came from. Was it something we read, was it a move, was it a personal experience? What?
Probably the chief source was the cries of the people. Disillusionment. Disgust.
Being in a position where we come in frequent contact with political candidates on one side and people who are upset with “the system” in general on the other, we felt we had a good feel for the pulse of our society.
As far as other influences which might have contributed to the decision to start Underground Texas, we have personally been targeted by some of the high-falutin powers that be and perhaps have experienced a twinge of a persecution complex.
Of note, the day before we actually conceived Underground Texas, this writer sat up half the night reading a book by James Wakefield Burke entitled David Crockett: The Man Behind The Myth. It was an extremely interesting book about the “legend” of the Alamo, but nothing all that inspiring. Our Texas heroes did some impressive things in those days and took a chance. That’s what we are trying to do. Texas could use a little drama.
Put all the above-mentioned elements together and you get the birth of Underground Texas. Apparently, the sobering truth evolved that for anything to be accomplished, a first step must be taken. We deemed that we were in a position to assemble some great Texas writers and as an ensemble come up with some workable ideas which people with good horse-sense could appreciate and get behind.
Anyway, we’re talking Texas’ trenches, and are hoping that the little guy will put on his six-guns and go with us as we round up the varmints who are trying to steal us blind.
There really is a battle of the corporate versus the individual in this state and nationwide, and the corporate side is winning.
In the book Modern Public Administration by Felix A. and Lloyd G. Nigro, it is stated: “The nation has long been plagued by the dilemma of how to retain the advantages of large-scale operations and at the same time preserve competition, protect the smaller businessman and the consumer, and avoid regulatory policies that unjustifiably slow up economic expansion.
“There always has been concern about corporate power, but now, with the domination of the economy by a relatively small number of giant companies, there is fear of the ‘corporate state.’ These companies are viewed as having become so powerful that they are shaping the ‘future in which the whole society will have to live.’”
Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith has taken it a step further by saying that some of the big companies are becoming so dependent on government orders and planning that they “will eventually become a part of the administrative complex within the state,” and predicts that “in time the line between the two will disappear.”
His prediction is today coming true, with government and corporations so intertwined that the negative activities of one has a like impact on the other. Unfortunately, the government is a machine that we, the individual taxpayers, own but don’t get to play with!
Government insiders and corporate headmasters are using a red-tape smokescreen to build pools of wealth and power impenetrable by the lowly masses…at least that’s what they think! Used to, in Texas we hanged horse thieves. It’s time we checked the back 40.
