Texas Education In Tragic Crisis
Texas Legislature Totally To Blame
Teacher layoffs, bulging classrooms, unfunded mandates, teaching to an idiotic test, students being forced to take drugs, the list goes on.
Education in Texas is spinning downward in a tragic crisis that was created during the Bush years and has swelled even more under reason’s jester, Gov. Perry, and his madcap crew of legislators, 95 percent of whom are undeniably insane.
The Iconoclast has quite often pointed out major problems with public education in Texas, but the same old legislators who are in the hip pockets of corporate lobbyists keep getting re-elected so that they can continue to plunder our children.
You would think Perry’s Gardasil rampage would have put a stop to our government’s forcing children to take drugs.
Nope.
This year, college students were mandated to get vaccines for meningitis, complete with the problems of possible horrible side effects. Many students have refused the jab and were therefore forbidden from registering for classes. Just another idiotic swipe at education by the druggies that run our government.
Every time the legislature has tried to mess with education, including taking studies out of the hands of teachers and local school districts, disaster has followed. It is no coincidence that corporate interests lie in the background of these initiatives. Some lawmaker is getting rich at the expense of Texas schoolchildren.
During his run for governor, Perry played a card that described the Texas economy as being in great shape.
After the election, teachers began getting the pink slip and now nobody even whispers “no child left behind” because every schoolkid has been left behind. Actually this was occurring during the days of GeorgieBoy Bush, only back then he propelled a lie that many bought into.
Each and every legislator who has been involved in creating the education crisis, and that’s nearly all of them, do not deserve to be re-elected. They are incompetent when it comes to serving the public and should not only be booted out, but scorned, ridiculed, and perhaps tried in court in the process.
Putting education in crisis in Texas is not a forgivable sin.
And to think — it was totally unnecessary.
— W. Leon Smith
A War On Iran? Let’s Do It!
<http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/01/war-on-iran-lets-do-it-by-jane.html>
[Author’s note: For the wiser of us, this article may appear to be a satire but for the rest of us, a war on Iran might actually seem more like a macho wet-dream come true — once again confirming Plato’s most excellent cave theory…]
Let’s put our money where our mouth is, stop constantly blathering on about how desperately we want to launch a war on Iran — and just do it. I’m bored with life anyway — and there’s really not much else going on between now and when the next season of “Survivor” starts up.
Almost all of the Republican presidential candidates this year seem to be rabidly in favor of a war on Iran (except, of course, for Ron Paul — but he’s never given any media airtime so he doesn’t count). So let’s vote for Romney or Gingrich or Santorum or that GOP wannabe Obama or Perry or whoever. I’m tired of just playing video-game wars and watching war movies. I want to see the real thing. Again.
Republicans, GOP wannabes and their corporatist buddies on Wall Street already have an excellent “make-a-war” track record. They’ve already gotten us into that bloody, expensive and deadly war on Iraq, that terrible, unnecessary and grisly war on Afghanistan, and that truly weird war on Libya wherein Al Qaeda was actually our ally.
When it comes to starting exciting-but-disastrous wars, Republicans and corporatists have turned out to be real pros. So, pretty pleeze, give these cool-crazy dudes yet another shot at getting us into yet another meaningless, expensive and bloody war — this time a war on Iran. I can hardly wait! How exciting is that!
Do you ever watch TrueBlood on TV? And don’tcha just love it when they stage their vampire wars? Lots of carnage, lots of blood. Very entertaining. But a war on Iran would be even better — another American vampire war on the Middle East, only ours are fought with real blood.
Go ahead, guys. Get this war started. Entertain me.
And when things go awry like they always do during wartime, then you and me will probably be dead too — after corporatist vampires start sucking blood from us as well as from Arabs and Persians. Go ahead, bite me!
Can’t you just hardly wait for this next war to start?
And it looks like we’re not gonna have to wait very long either.
According to WhiteOut Press <http://www.whiteoutpress.com/articles/q12012/us-troops-going-to-israel483/>, “In one of the most blacked-out stories in America right now, the US military is preparing to send thousands of US troops, along with US Naval anti-missile ships and accompanying support personnel, to Israel.” U.S. boots on the ground in Israel? What? Now all of a sudden the IDF isn’t good enough for Ehud Barak and he wants our boys over there too?
But why?
The poor enslaved Palestinians have already been subjugated and subdued by the IDF to the point of embarrassment (it’s getting harder and harder these days for Israeli corporatists to pretend that Israel is in danger — or even a democracy or even barely Jewish). So obviously our troops won’t be needed to enslave more Palestinians or steal more of their land. That’s already a done deal. So perhaps this sudden need for U.S. missiles and U.S. troops on the ground indicates that our Ehud might want Washington’s help in enslaving and subduing Iran as well — turning it into yet another open-air prison like Gaza.
According to Israeli journalist Uri Avnery, however, that’s never going to happen and we’re all gonna end up with a swamp of a war instead — because if America and Israel do attack, then Iran will simply block the Strait of Hormuz, and there’s not much that even American vampires can do about that.
“Still the Iranian missiles will come in,” writes Avnery, “making passage through the strait impossible. What next? There will be no alternative to ‘boots on the ground’. The US army will have to land on the shore and occupy all the territory from which missiles can be effectively launched. That would be a major operation. Fierce Iranian resistance must be expected, judging from the experience of the eight-year Iraqi-Iranian war. The oil wells in neighboring Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states will also be hit. Such a war would go far beyond the dimensions of the American invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan, perhaps even of Vietnam.” <http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1325859818/>
Yay! Bring it on!
According to Middle East expert David Pratt, “Some European countries, notably France, seem keen to fall in behind Washington’s sanctions bill signed by President Barack Obama on December 31. Earlier this week French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe urged EU countries to follow the US lead in freezing Iranian bank assets and imposing an embargo on oil exports.”
<http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/sense-must-prevail-to-avoid-iran-catastrophe.16371043>
Oh goody! Now Europe wants to get in on the action too! Now we’ll all die for sure as the war on Iran begins to expand and sweep across the rest of the Middle East, Israel AND Europe — and then possibly on to America as well, probably leaving only those One Percent guys alive in their bunkers and in an excellent position to snatch up whatever pieces of prime real estate that are still left standing.
And I’ll have my own piece of prime real estate too — the plot next to my parents at Skylawn. Face it, guys. I always wanted to be a zombie — and here’s my big chance! Grateful dead, move on over.
“But Jane,” you might ask, “why are you being so pessimistic? All those experts are wrong and the Repubs are right. America can easily win a war on Iran.” Nope, nope, nope. Iran is not just some camel-driven economy that is barely out of the stone age. Tehran is as civilized as Paris or Rome. I’ve been there, I’ve seen the place. It’s got the internet and traffic gridlock and everything. It’s even got Gucci, Benneton and Calvin Klein! <http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2011/01/iran-vs.html>
Iran also has at least 20 submarines and all kinds of missiles. Should America or Israel attack Iran, there would definitely be a hot time in the old town tonight. And not just in Tehran — but probably in Tel Aviv, Paris, London and perhaps even Washington DC as well. Get out the marshmallows, folks! This war will definitely heat up. We’re good to go.
According to Global Research at <http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28511>, “The Iranian defense has the capability to sink not one, but many US Naval ships currently flexing their muscles on the periphery of Iranian territorial waters. Such an event would register with shock and horror in the US public mind, but worse, may be used by Washington hawks to justify a revenge nuclear strike against Iranian civilians. Both Washington and Tel Aviv have already raised the talking point of deploying ‘tactical nukes’ against Iran….
“Any nuclear conflagration by the US or Israel would most certainly result in a global backlash against the West – at its worst acting as a procession into the hot stages of World War III – or at its very least, re-balkanizing the geopolitical scene into a New Cold War, with the West on one side and Iran, China, Pakistan, and Russia on the other.”
Barbeque time? Oh yeah. We might even end up being able to roast hot dogs 24/7 almost anywhere in the whole world — or be dead.
PS: I recently saw a really excellent movie (here’s a review of it: <http://www.ebertpresents.com/movies/a-dangerous-method/videos/338)> about Freud and Jung and Jung’s mistress, Kiera Knightly — and they all got together and talked about Eros and Thanatos and the human mind’s bizarre attraction to death. Hey, I’m attracted to death too! Death is sexy as hell. But I’m obviously not the only one that is attracted to death. Apparently our so-called leaders in Washington are too.
Love or Death? “TrueBlood” or “Survivor”? I’m sort of kinky that way — bored of living — so I think that I’ll go with TrueBlood.
Which one will you choose?
Texas Supreme Court Prefers Corporations
Decade-Long Review Shows 79% of Consumers Lose;
74% of Juries Overturned in Consumer Cases
AUSTIN — The Texas Supreme Court has a long history of favoring corporate defendants over families and small businesses, according to a decade-long review of the Court’s decision making by Court Watch, a project of the non-profit Texas Watch Foundation.
Court Watch reviewed the 624 cases involving consumers decided by the Court between 2000 and 2010. The report, “Thumbs on the Scale: A Retrospective of the Texas Supreme Court, 2000-2010,” finds that the state’s high court for civil matters “has marched in lock-step to consistently and overwhelmingly reward corporate defendants and the government at the expense of Texas families.”
“The Texas Supreme Court is an activist, results-oriented body that over the last 10 years has developed into a safe haven for corporate defendants at the expense of individuals, families, and small business owners,” said Alex Winslow, director of Court Watch. “The statistics speak for themselves. The court’s pro-defendant ideology can not be disputed.”
Among the report’s findings are:
Corporate and government defendants prevail in an average of 74% of cases annually.
Consumers have lost 79% of cases in which they were pitted against a corporate or government defendant.
These findings lead Court Watch to conclude: “The Texas Supreme Court has become a reliable friend to those who seek to escape the consequences of their actions; its justices are the ultimate guardians for the moneyed and powerful who wish to shirk responsibility.”
The report focuses on the decade beginning in 2000 because it reflects a paradigm shift. In 2000, Rick Perry became governor. His appointees to the Court have taken it in a decidedly activist and ideological turn.
Justices appointed to the Court by Governor Rick Perry have sided with consumers an average of just 29% of the time.
Despite a constitutional provision limiting its jurisdiction to questions of law – not fact – the Court has routinely overturned decisions made by local juries. Even Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson admonished the Court in a 2004 dissenting opinion, writing: “This Court is constitutionally bound to conduct only a legal – not factual – sufficiency review.”
Texas Supreme Court has overturned local jury decisions in consumer cases an average of 74% of the time since 2004.
Court Watch writes that “The jury is our smallest, most direct, and least corrupted form of government. … However, the Texas Supreme Court has displayed a fundamental disregard for juries.”
Court Watch has been monitoring and reporting on the Texas Supreme Court and the impact its decisions have on Texas families since 1996. During that time, Court Watch has issued an annual list of the most anti-consumer cases of a given year. In keeping with that tradition, this report includes a “Dirty Dozen of the Decade,” a representative sampling of the most dangerous, far-reaching decisions made by the Texas Supreme Court during the last decade.
Read the full report here: http://www.texaswatch.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Thumbs-on-the-Scale_CtWatch_Jan2012_Final.pdf
Does Political Office Attract Liars?
Well, I think you all know the answer to that question. It’s probably both.
Newt Gingrich is a millionaire who was caught in yet another lie when he publicly stated that one of his former wives is lying about his request for an open marriage and he has two “friends” as witnesses. It turns out that his “friends” are his two daughters who have already said that their Dad never did so. By the way, how many kids do you know who would be present when their Dad asked Mom to permit him to screw around with another woman?
The problem with lying is that eventually you can’t recall everything you previously stated and then, as a sociopath, the lies become the truth you remember. Gingrich and Mitt Romney are guilty of that and of not recognizing the truth even if they trip over it. Gingrich’s main problem is that his supreme arrogance and abrasive personality will always exceed his popularity.
The next interesting view on Mitt Romney is that “he is too rich” to become President. After all, how can such a wealthy person relate at all to the majority of hardworking and hardly working Americans? Insult to injury is that Romney made $42 million in the past two years and the guy hasn’t even been employed during that time period. It is all interest income! His payment in personal taxes was $3 million, which is a 14 percent tax rate and is a much lower rate than what most Americans pay.
Rick Santorum, a former practicing attorney, is still pushing his “poor, blue-collar” image to capture the votes of the hardly working class. Santorum earned $1.3 million in 2010 and the first half of 2011. The largest portion of his employment earnings, $332,000, was from his work as a consultant for industry interest groups, including Consol Energy and American Continental Group. He is anti-abortion and also pro-intelligent design that he once wanted taught as part of the science curriculum in public schools. Perhaps most disturbing and dangerous is that Santorum is an angry pro-war hawk.
So that leaves us with Ron Paul. Most Americans now know that Paul was a doctor [OBGYN] for much of his career. Paul is fond of stating that he doesn’t have the extreme wealth of his GOP rivals; however; Ron Paul’s wealth is estimated at approximately $5 million, which is not too shabby. Still, Paul does NOT accept large contributions from wealthy corporations, lobbyists and individual special interests. In this realm, he is one of the select and more ethical politicians. Some of Paul’s rigid and somewhat antiquated views on an isolationist foreign policy, the Federal Reserve Bank and a few other issues may cost him the Primary.
President Barack Obama is no slouch in wealth. He and his team will soon raise $1 billion in campaign contributions.
Most likely, 94 percent of Americans will continue to struggle at least for the next five years and if the middle class is not restored to its previous status, the American society we once knew and loved will become as extinct as the saber-tooth tiger and wooly mammoth.
Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, Texas.
Students Not Sheltered From Budget Cuts
A recent Texas AFT survey of public school superintendents from 241 districts found that state budget cuts of $5.4 billion are having a significant impact on classroom instruction, teacher morale and help for struggling students.
“Students are not being sheltered from budget cuts, as some of the state’s leadership suggested would be the case last year when they took an axe to public education funding,” said Texas AFT President Linda Bridges. “Instead superintendents are telling us that teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and cuts in services for struggling students are creating a stressful environment and creating concerns about how to deal with the implementation of the new standardized tests being rolled out this spring.”
As one superintendent noted, “The funds to produce a world-class educational system in Texas are there. The willingness to invest in our kids and our state is not. Cut now, pay later. Our state leadership has failed us.”
Texas AFT mailed surveys to 1,051 superintendents throughout the state in December and received 241 responses, 23 percent of the districts statewide. The superintendent survey findings echo concerns revealed in a November Texas AFT online survey of some 3,500 teachers and school employees regarding the impacts of budget cuts. That report also showed widespread teacher layoffs, increased class sizes, cuts to key services designed to help students pass standardized tests, and stressful working environments for teachers.
Bridges said superintendents noted that most positions eliminated from budgets cuts were for teachers. She added that a large number of superintendents said that larger class sizes and mounting pressures to achieve on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests this spring were likely to drive others out of the profession.
One superintendent wrote, “I believe more experienced teachers (about to retire) will leave the profession and more younger teachers will do all that they can to find jobs in other professions. Why go where you are not appreciated.” Another stated, “Most staff are thankful to have a job, and I feel they will stay in place for the next three years. After that, the accountability system will drive them out.”
In the November survey of school employees, 81 percent of respondents said the school climate for students, teachers and staff was worse or much worse, with 72 percent saying it was “stressful and taxing” and another 9 percent describing it as “hostile and unfriendly.”
“Superintendents are backing up what teachers and school employees by the thousands have told us,” Bridges said. “There’s no getting around the fact that budget cuts are hurting students, teachers and administrators, and our state’s future will suffer because the state’s leadership has let us down.”
Bridges added: “Superintendents are community leaders whose job it is to inspire achievement, so they generally tend to assume a ‘can-do’ attitude publicly in the face of daunting challenges like these budget cuts. But there’s also a time to be candid, and this survey gave these leaders an opportunity to say just how dire situations are in our schools.” (For a complete report on the online survey of school employees, see www.texasaft.org)
Key Findings of Survey
• Respondents reported 6,480 positions cut in the 2011-2012 school year, with the largest number (3,052) being teaching positions. (Note that these numbers only represent cuts from 23% of the state’s districts. The November Texas AFT survey of school employees reported that 92% of districts cut positions. Extrapolating from the superintendent survey, estimates of total positions cut would exceed 30,000.)
• As a response to budget cuts, superintendents said their districts anticipate:
— Cutting employee salaries (9% of respondents)
— Cutting health-care benefits (10%)
— Cutting stipends for extra duties, hard-to-staff positions, bilingual education or educational achievement (20%)
— Using some portion of their fund balance/reserves (60% of respondents)
— Invoking financial exigency (6%)
— Using employee furlough days (6%)
— Calling for a Tax Ratification Election in the next 2-3 years to increase local tax revenue (10%)
• 5% of superintendents said their districts are charging fees for extracurricular activities.
Super PAC More Important Than Voters…
A PAC is the acronym for Political Action Committee and the 2012 Presidential Election primaries are all about the new era of the Super PAC.
One of the more “endearing” venues of the Super PAC is that each wealthy donor may contribute more than the customary $2,500 maximum under the normal contributory laws for Presidential campaigns.
All four GOP Primary candidates and Democrat President Obama have at least one Super PAC that can raise millions of dollars for its respective candidate. In fact, President Obama is approaching the $1 billion mark for contributions, the highest ever for a President seeking reelection or for any Presidential candidate in any political party running in a primary.
Super PACs virtually are making the majority of American voters obsolete because the wealthy corporate sector, individuals and their lobbyists usually hedge their bets during an election year so that they may retain their powerful clout no matter who wins a primary or election.
In addition, since it is the electoral college that actually selects the President and NOT the popular votes provided by American citizens, during the past several decades voters have watched helplessly as their own political clout has basically disappeared, which is why our nation is regulated by the top 1 percent of wealthy political contributors and why our nation’s direction is determined by those with money and power.
While the four GOP candidates have all spoken out against these Super PAC entities, no one has tried to eliminate them. Even Ron Paul, who has publicly stated he does not accept wealthy contributions, has a Super PAC called Revolution, which began in July 2011.
In one of the recent GOP debates, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have argued that they don’t have control over the actions of their Super PAC and in fact that they are prohibited by law to have anything to do with the PAC. However, there are several legal loopholes that do permit a certain amount of back-door diplomacy that may be used by candidates to communicate with their respective Super PACS.
There is no doubt that in a Democratic Representative Republic like the U.S. the Super PAC concept is increasingly detrimental to real democracy. The U.S. has become a corporate/military oligarchy and the American people are becoming more enslaved directly due to the evolution of the Super PAC and the management of national and domestic affairs by the wealthy and powerful. Our Constitutional rights and freedoms are under constant threat.
No wonder average and low-income Americans are frustrated, angry and frightened about what is happening in Washington at the national level, which has also trickled-down to state and local politics. We are moving further away from being a Democratic Representative Republic and our so-called legislative “Representatives” no longer represent us.
There are several options to return some power to the people:
— Eliminate the Super PAC entities
— Provide term limits for our legislators
— Eliminate large campaign contributions so that our officials are not bought by wealthy concerns
— Prohibit wealthy lobbyists from selling their wares, especially during elections and keep them out of the Capitol so Congress can do its business without special interest legislative buying and constant interruption.
— Lastly, it would be a great idea to approve a law that would enable the American people to provide “an annual report card” to each and every political officials and legislators, after which each official would be given the next year to improve on his or her record. If there is no improvement by the next report card, the official can be fired from office.
It is time that the American people fight to get honest and ethical representation in government.
Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, Texas.
E Cannabis Unum: Has Medical Marijuana Helped My Sore Knees?
<http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/01/e-cannibus-unum-has-medical-marijuana.html>
I’ve just about tried everything there is to make my sore knees and right ankle feel better — physical therapy, acupuncture, SynVisc (nasty stuff), chiropractic, Advil, hydrotherapy, Tiger Balm, xi gong, steam baths, reiki, Filipino psychic surgery, hypnotherapy, Zam-Zam water, deep-tissue massage, yoga,.. You name it and I’ve tried it. But nothing has worked — until now.
Now I’ve discovered “DocGreen’s Therapeutic Healing Cream,” which is made from shea butter, palm oil, vegetable wax and cannabis. That’s right, you read that right. I am currently rubbing marijuana onto my knees.
And, yes, it’s legal. And, yes, it works.
“But where did you get this stuff?” you might ask. “While standing on a corner in West Oakland? After skipping across the border to Tijuana? By following hippies around up on Telegraph? In the evidence room at the DEA? Where?”
I got it at my friendly local marijuana dispensary <http://www.harborsidehealthcenter.com/>. And what a trip that was too, with all kinds of types — from arthritic old ladies and dying cancer patients to young men and women who looked like they’ve never been sick a day in their life — standing in a really long line and waiting their turn in front of a huge display counter featuring everything from manufactured doobies and sativa buds to infused chocolates and ointments like the kind that I got.
But, hey, DocGreen’s soothing therapeutic ointment worked.
Plus it also made me sort of happy — a big surprise there. Not that I was stoned or zonked or nothing, and there was definitely no slow-motion-type incapacitation or uncontrollable munchies like I’ve heard that you get from eating dope brownies or smoking a spliff. And there was none of that sudden Bob Marley “one-love” positive-vib stuff either. I still have all the same worries and troubles that I used to have before — that corporatists are still destroying our country and my tooth still hurts and I’m still overdrawn at the bank — but now I’m just a little bit less on edge about all that and a little bit more able to cope.
PS: I figured that since just a little bit of DocGreen’s healing therapeutic moisturizer helped my soreness and also my frame of mind, then perhaps I should try a bit more. So I rubbed some of the ointment onto my sore neck as well. Wrong thing to do. An immediate headache resulted, and then I started worrying again all over — but this time more fiercely. Oh rats. I just knew it was too good to be true. Looks like I’d better go back to trying holy water and saunas.
But then I listened to Layna Berman on KPFA and she said that many people end up getting addicted to various substances by trying to “take the edge off” their lives. Hey, I wanna take the edge off! But according to Berman, no, that’s not a good idea, Apparently having worries is a good thing — because they force you to act, to try out different things that might end all those worries. Perhaps like joining OWS in order to end the corporatists’ sleazy reign of terror in Washington? Oh, okay.
Berman also stated that by using outside means of cheering oneself up, then our body loses its own ability to cheer itself up.
PPS: Then I listened to a video on “Full Disclosure” that talked about how California is being taken over by Mexican drug lords — even including taking over the legal medical marijuana trade. Yikes!
According to a recent “Full Disclosure” report, “Mexican Drug Cartels are controlling industrial farming of Marijuana while enslaving both the illegal alien laborers and the U. S. Farmers. Once entrapped by the Cartels, they are unable escape with their lives.” <http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Blogs/107.php>
Double yikes! Now I’m in danger of becoming a member of the Sinaloa drug cartel! Just because I’ve got bad knees.
PPPS: If marijuana is illegal, shouldn’t they make all those other artificial feel-good substances illegal too? Like cigarettes and booze? Wouldn’t it be nice if you had to have a doctor’s prescription before you could set foot into a liquor store?
PPPPS: Someone else just recommended that I just simply stick to eating mushrooms. According to a recent TED video on the subject, mushrooms are the last best hope for this planet and we can even use them instead of fossil fuel: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5frPV58tY> Yeah, but can mushrooms make my ankle and knees (and brain) feel any better?
PPPPS: Then I went up to that dispensary on Telegraph Avenue at <http://berkeleypatientscare.com/> and got a chocolate infusion to eat. Forget that! One small bite almost the size of a baby’s fingernail and I was absolutely frozen in place for the next TWELVE WHOLE HOURS. I couldn’t even get to my computer to call for help on FaceBook!
This article is Part One of an ongoing series regarding the advantages and disadvantages of using medical marijuana. And if anyone wants to try DocGreen’s Therapeutic Healing Cream, please let me know and I’ll give you the 411.
Throwing Big Banks Off The Bus
By Christopher L. Williston
Independent Bankers Association
Throughout Texas, community banks provide personalized, valuable services to families and small businesses each and every day. However, community banks are facing increasing challenges as a result of changes in the banking industry—in effect, they are paying a steep price because they are grouped with the huge megabanks that have been front and center in the current economic crisis. In the long run, the challenges that Texas community banks are facing will negatively impact Texas consumers in a variety of ways, including more regulatory red tape which will lead to higher-priced financial services.
In his December 20, 2011, American Banker editorial, “Community Banks Should Ask for a Divorce,” Robert H. Smith summarizes the growing frustrations of community bankers today in this way:
“Unfortunately, the community banks of this country are thrown under the bus by just being a bank. They have been unable to disassociate themselves from extra costs and lost credibility resulting from the scarred reputation of the bigger banks. Today the community banks are subject to the same increased regulatory burden, increasing capital and general public disdain as the larger bank. It’s time for community banks to disassociate themselves from the big banks in the eyes of the public, the legislatures and the regulatory community. They must seek regulation under a different set of expectations, consistent with their size, capabilities and ability to compete consistent with community opportunities.”
Smith, a former chairman and CEO of Security Pacific Corp., now founder and director of a community bank in Newport Beach, California, gets it. Having made a living in a “too big to fail” bank and now having to survive and compete with Security Pacific’s acquiring institution, Bank of America, Smith conveys the mounting uncertainty of the future of community banks in a post-Dodd-Frank era.
The big banks are taking a ride on the community bank advocacy bus in Washington and throughout state legislatures all across the country, including here in Texas. They hide like thieves in the night behind the goodwill and unified message of the community banks proclaiming “one industry voice” as the only means to a successful legislative and regulatory end. And look where that has gotten us…a “one size fits all,” over-regulated world and a growing public perception that a bank is a bank, and all bank executives are out for personal enrichment and public deception.
In his bestselling book, “Good to Great,” business consultant Jim Collins says this about the philosophy of great companies:
“They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats. And they stick with that discipline—first the people, then the direction—no matter how dire the circumstances.”
The same is true for those of us in community banks. It is time for the little guys to throw those who are supposedly “too big to fail” off our bus. We have tied the knot with the “too big to fail” for far too long. It’s time to fight to advance meaningful regulation that works for our businesses and our customers and preserves our own good names. When it comes to banking, smaller is definitely better.
Williston is president and CEO of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas, the largest state community banking organization in the nation. The Austin-based group represents more than 2,000 banks and branches in 700 Texas communities.
Texas Wildlife Imperiled By Fossil Fuel Industry
AUSTIN, Texas — Only a few hundred whooping cranes remain living worldwide, and a new report says the species could be “decimated” by the proposed Keystone Pipeline, which would run alongside their migratory path from Canada to Texas.
The report lists 10 species most imperiled in the United States by oil, gas, and coal extraction, three of which can be found in Texas.
Wildlife biologist Jan Randall, a professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and a fellow of the California Academy of Science who contributed to the report for the Endangered Species Coalition, says the industry is taking a big toll on vulnerable plants and animals.
Fallout From Fukushima No. 1 On Rise
TOKYO, Japan — The amount of radioactive materials released from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has risen this month compared with December, Tepco said.
In late January the total was 70 milllion becquerels per hour, which compares to 60 million becquerels in December 2011.
These figures are from Tokyo Electric Power Co., which attributes the increase to the displacement of radioactive materials that had settled on facilities and equipment due to work done on reactors 2 and 3.
Treasury Bond Sell-Off Highlights Pending Economic Disaster
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Unknown to most Americans, the Russians have sold off half of their U.S. Treasury bonds during the past year and the Chinese are quickly following suit.
The current United States inflatlion rate is reported at 12 percent.
With Ben Bernanke creating trillions of dollars designed to bail out European banks to buy worthless securities from U.S. banks and to fund the U.S. debt, the inflation rate is expected to rise up to 20 percent by the end of 2012, according to underground economists.
The end effect, it is predicted, will be to force others to dump U.S. dollars as well, as soon as trades are completed, causing hyperinflation in America, and soon a devaluation of the dollar worldwide, which might reach 40 percent.
NATO/G8 Set For Chicago
At A Global Crossroads: Turn Against War
On January 25, the host committee for the G8/NATO summit in Chicago in May unveiled a new slogan for the event, “The Global Crossroads.” The mood of the organizers is upbeat and positive. This is a grand opportunity to market Chicago with an eye for the tourist dollar and the city is ready, the committee assures us, to deal with any “potential problems.”
One of the potential problems that the committee is confident that it can overcome, according to a report by WLS-TV in Chicago, is “the prospect of large-scale protests stealing the stage as the world watches.” The new slogan stresses the international character of the event and the prestige and economic benefit that hosting world economic and political leaders is expected to bring to Chicago. “We’re a world class city with world class potential,” declares Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “If you want to be a global city, you’ve got to act like a global city and do what global cities do,” says Lori Healey who heads the host committee and who previously led the city’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
All indications, unfortunately, are that Chicago is preparing to “act like a global city and do what global cities do” and it appears to want to follow the lead of other “global cities” in dealing with mass demonstrations threatening to “steal the stage;” think Tehran, Beijing, Cairo, Moscow and Seattle, to name a few.
One of the chilling developments the hosting committee announced was that the Illinois State Crime Commission is “urgently seeking Iraq-Afghanistan combat veterans to work security positions for the G8 summit.” The commission’s chairman clarifies that is for “private security” and not to work with the Chicago police. As in other “global cities,” these veterans will be used as private mercenaries without the legal protections and benefits of public employees. The Veterans Administration reports treating about 16% of the 1.3 million of veterans of these two wars for post-traumatic stress disorder and many more do not seek help. In answer to a potentially volatile situation in the streets of Chicago, the commission is not seeking workers trained in conflict resolution, but it has an urgent need for ex-soldiers trained in the violent chaos of Iraq and Afghanistan. These veterans urgently need treatment and meaningful employment, but at the “global crossroads,” they are offered only temp jobs as rent-a-cops protecting the interests of their exploiters.
Beyond touting the overblown promise of money that the summit is expected to bring (“To penetrate international markets takes time and money,” said Don Welsh, Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau) the city and its welcoming committee do not encourage education or reflection on what NATO and the G8 are and what they do. Despite its claims, NATO was never a defensive alliance. It is structured to wage “out of area” wars in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as to “contain” China. NATO’s creed is aggressive, expansionist, militarist and undemocratic. The G8 represents the economic interests of its member states. It is not a legal international entity established by treaty but acts outside the law, with NATO as its enforcer. Chicago law enforcement might better spend its resources on preparing to arrest and prosecute the war criminals, terrorists, torturers, and racketeers coming as invited constituents of G8 and NATO rather than getting ready for mass arrests of citizens coming to Chicago to exercise their right to protest these crimes.
The morning after the host committee unveiled its new slogan, some of us with the Chicago-based Voices for Creative Nonviolence met to discuss our part in the response to the city of Chicago “bringing the war home” by welcoming NATO and G8.
We at Voices found ourselves in agreement with the host committee that Chicago is indeed a global crossroads. This is true not for the world’s financial elite, war profiteers, military brass and heads of state officially welcomed there in May, but for those who come to Chicago from the all over the continent and around the globe to visit or to make their lives there without the criminal intent of NATO and the G8. In May, especially, Chicago will be a global crossroads for the thousands of good people who will gather in the city to lend a hand and take to the streets for justice and peace.
Chicago in May is also a crossroads in that it is a critical place and time for us all to take stock of where we have been and where we are going. We are at a crossroads- do we continue on the road of war and economic exploitation of the planet that NATO and the G8 are committed to, or do we abandon that road and turn a corner toward economic justice and a world at peace. We are at a crossroads and our choices are stark: global domination and the economic and ecological devastation that it makes inevitable or global community.
With this in mind, Voices for Creative Nonviolence decided to call our efforts leading up to the NATO and G8 summit, “At A Global Crossroads: Turn Against War.”
We are starting the ground work for a walk starting on May 1 from Madison, Wisconsin, to arrive in Chicago in time for the summit on May 19.
Brian Terrell is a former mayor of Maloy, Iowa. He and others will offer nonviolent protest to the upcoming NATO/G8 meeting in Chicago. Terrell has gone to Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and has seen the effects of NATO’s war. He travels unarmed into war zones and learns the honest feelings of the people on the ground, who talk to him honestly because he carries no gun, takes no protection from anyone with a gun, and is with Voice for Creative Nonviolence, a trusted international civil society organization based in Chicago.