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Not sure we’re focused on the right things

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FromEditorsDesk Tony CroppedBy Tony Farkas
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The current discussions regarding school vouchers make me wonder if the focus is on quality education for children.

Mostly, at least in what I’ve heard, it’s been about money, with a side trip into questioning accountability of private schools to the state godfathers.

Administrators in smaller schools rightly feel that allowing funds to be moved would affect their ability to provide education, while other education professionals point out that private schools aren’t bound by state standards.

Proponents of school choice say it will allow for greater parental involvement, as well as forcing schools in general to improve in order to maintain current enrollment.

Teachers, school administrators and board members all have the best of intentions when it comes to education. For me, that was never a concern. My interest here is about the constant interference from the powers that be.

That, and actually educating students, since any plan that is supposed to be helping students needs to actually improve education outcomes.

Many of these arguments instead focus on money, and even the loss of control by the government, especially the federal government.

So here’s how I think things will go. The State Senate has passed a measure during last week’s special session, which now is waiting on the House to convene for its deliberations. This being a pet project of Gov. Abbott, more than likely it will end up on his desk. From there, more than likely, it will end up in a series of court battles, and the issue will become stagnant and nothing will have been accomplished.

That’s just on the side of law. Funding has been deemed the biggest problem in education, but has increasing funding done anything? Is there actually an uptick in proficiency? Certainly some districts have improved greatly, but this isn’t the norm. If funding fully was the answer, then improvement would be pretty uniform.

As I’ve pointed out before, there are numerous and continuous mandates from state and local governments requiring funds to be diverted to other items, such as turning school campuses into armed encampments. (I’m not minimizing horrific school shootings, and please don’t think that. I have deep concerns because I, too, have children in school.)

Imagine if the funds required to completely surround campuses with 8-foot fencing were actually used for instruction.

I also feel there needs to be more accountability, but not on the part of the schools but on the students. A joke running around pointed out that decades ago, parents demanded of children the reason for poor grades; nowadays, parents demand answers from teachers.

That same accountability needs to be spread to parents; if one of the intentions of vouchers is to increase parental involvement, then it seems that already has been deemed a problem. Will moving money around from one school to another make a difference?

There obviously are no easy answers, but I cannot believe that adding more government oversight and meddling will solve the problems, since nothing the government does has truly been successful. Instead of vouchers, how about letting the people in the community chart their own course?

Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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It’s just a money game

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Jim Opionin By Jim Powers

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As humans, we have just a few needs. We need food to eat, we need water to drink, and we need shelter from weather. But beyond need, these are basic rights. As rights, they are not exclusive. But they are real. Without them we can’t survive.

If we are hungry, we can eat, and that food satisfies our hunger. If we are thirsty; we can drink water and that satisfies our thirst. If it is raining, we can find a structure to stand under and that satisfies our need for shelter.

In our modern society, fulfilling those basic human needs requires money. If you live on the 30th floor of an apartment building, you can’t grow your food, provide yourself water, or keep that roof over your head without money. And for that you depend on employers, on companies.

So, money is power. But money isn’t real. Just like politics and borders, money is a figment of our imaginations. Governments create money out of thin air. And because it is fiat, they can make as much or as little as they want. And we must live with their decisions. Which gives a government unconstrained by morality or concern for people, the power of life or death over their citizens.

In our world today, 195 countries exist whose borders have been defined by force or fiat. They weren’t created by divine intervention. The world exists for all human beings. God did not create the world with permanent walls demarcating 195 countries. Those borders are political fictions and the first level of control over our lives.

Corporations, like money and borders, are also inventions of our minds. While our Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, that is a lie. They are legal fictions. And giving them the status of people has given them almost unrestrained power.

We face in the U.S. a very dangerous future on two fronts. And while this is a warning, I think it is too late to stop the danger from either.

First, there are a significant number of politicians in our government who have openly advocated for significant reduction, or complete elimination of programs including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and programs that provide money so folks can buy food. These programs provide very basic support for millions of people in our country and eliminating them would cause untold suffering for the poor and elderly. The excuse they give for their total dismissal of human rights is that the country can’t afford it anymore. That’s a lie. Because money is a fiction. 

Money is worth whatever our government says it is. But that would cause inflation! Inflation only exists within the fictional economic system we have created. It is not external. It doesn’t exist because of some immutable law of nature. 

We have created an economic system out of whole cloth, defined the rules, and then insist they be followed even when the result is that all the wealth of the country has accumulated into the hands of a relatively few billionaires.

An even more daunting human rights tragedy is confronting us because of the disruption AI is producing. 

AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) will almost certainly exist within 12 months (it likely already exists, but one of corporations controlling AI just hasn’t told us yet). AGI would initially have the intelligence of the median human being and would likely eliminate 50 percent of existing jobs in this country fairly quickly. Which would result in social collapse if we don’t have in place a way to provide food and shelter for those who lose their jobs.

You will hear a lot of talk about UBI (Universal Basic Income) and UBS (Universal Basic Services) soon as ways to alleviate suffering for these people. Both are excellent ideas. But, because we live in a time of political fiction, neither have a chance of being introduced. 

It is naïve to believe that a government already talking about eliminating programs that provide food and shelter and healthcare for the poor and elderly would have any interest in providing a basic income to half the population. They will certainly talk about it, but they will never implement it. And our society will collapse. 

And, listening to a growing list of legislators, it appears collapsing our society is the goal, being orchestrated by a handful of trillion-dollar corporations through the influence of political contributions.

To them, it’s all just a money game. For us, it is life and death.

 

As always, because I’m discussing politics, I like to disclose my bias. I am politically Left Libertarian.

Jim Powers writes opinion columns. His beliefs are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.

 

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Approving investment - Voters should want a stronger Texas

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Kelty GarbeeBy Kelty Garbee, Ph.D.

In the noise and shuffle of lawmakers’ work at the Texas Capitol earlier this year, our legislators made a wise (and critically needed) investment in broadband infrastructure. Lawmakers did their part by setting aside $1.5 billion in state funding for broadband, and now voters must do their part at the ballot box this fall.   

State constitutional amendment elections are often low-turnout, little-fanfare elections, but on November 7, the future of Texas is on the ballot. Among the fourteen constitutional amendments under consideration, Proposition 8 is essential for building a stronger Texas.

If voters approve, Prop 8 will create the Broadband Infrastructure Fund, releasing $1.5 billion in state funds to the Texas Comptroller to support broadband. This is not a new tax; these funds have already been set aside by the Legislature, but they can’t be used without voter approval.

There’s no question that Texas is on the move. Our economy is strong and our population is rapidly growing, but we don’t have the broadband infrastructure that we need in place. Imagine what it would mean for Texas if every home was connected, every student was plugged in, and all communities had access to high-speed internet in this high-tech economy.     

We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to infuse funds into broadband infrastructure that is both vital to our urban centers and a true lifeline for our rural communities.

Right now, nearly 1 in 4 Texans don’t have access to broadband. That translates to 7.4 million people or 3 million households. The problem is especially acute in our rural communities, where high-speed internet lags or simply doesn’t exist.

Broadband connects us to each other and the services we need every day. Students need it to learn. Hospitals need it to operate. Businesses need it to reach their customers. First responders – including police, firefighters, and ambulances – need it to ensure our safety. Connecting every Texan to broadband is essential to a prosperous, competitive state. 

Prop 8 is truly something we all need. This bipartisan measure is focused on expanding internet service to areas of the state that are unserved or underserved. If approved, Prop 8 will help draw down additional federal funds for broadband, to the tune of $3.3 billion dollars. With the state’s growing population, our infrastructure must keep pace with the demands on it. 

Our state leaders were forward-thinking and met the moment by committing state funds to broadband without raising taxes. Now, it’s the voters’ turn to show their love for their state and their commitment to its future. Rural and urban Texans can follow the example of their representatives and come together today to make the Texas of tomorrow possible. A vote yes on Proposition 8 is a vote for a stronger, more connected Texas.

Dr. Kelty Garbee is the Executive Director of Texas Rural Funders.

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To Destroy or Restore?

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SMITH Headshot for columnBy Trinity Smith

In the United States alone pollination is a several billion-dollar industry commonly focused on honeybees (Apis mellifera) an invasive species of pollinator originally imported to the United States from Europe to produce honey and pollination of fruits and vegetables. In 2006 there was a phenomenon discovered known as colony collapse disorder, CCD for short, which sparked an alarm in the beekeeping and agricultural communities.

While honeybees are undeniably important pollinators, there are arguments presented from scientists that honeybees are not as important or efficient pollinators as the four thousand plus species of native bees in the United States. They, too, are under attack from several factors causing their health and numbers to decline. Scientists have conducted studies on various agrochemicals and how they effect bumblebee colony development and not surprisingly they significantly reduce colony wide health and development.

All native pollinators need help so how can you help? You don’t need to get involved directly in beekeeping to do so. You can start by raising native plants in your garden instead of cultivating exotic plants native pollinators do not recognize and will be less likely to pollinate. Such as milkweed for the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) a common butterfly of the Americas. Goldenrod is highly nutritious for bees so maybe consider not spraying it with herbicides or mowing it down. You can do an internet search to see what types of native plants and pollinators are in your area to be able to create appropriate ecosystems for them to thrive. Next is to stop spraying agrochemicals such as: pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, miticides, and even rodenticides. All of which hurt native pollinators. In the rodenticides case we have a natural rodenticide known as: Owls. Owls hunt mice and rats but when you put out these chemicals you kill them as well by poisoning their food. Another way in the fall to help pollinators is to leave the leaves in your yard, many pollinator species such as ground nesting bees, fireflies, and several species of moths and even birds rely on these leaves to nest in, so removing them prevents this from being possible.

Lastly the most powerful way to help pollinators is to educate and spread the word. By sharing the importance of pollinators and how we can help them more people will be able to make better choices when shopping for plants for their gardens, when they are thinking about buying agrochemicals. All these choices have ripples of effects on the environment and ecology, so ask yourself: “to destroy or restore?”.

A lot of people want to help but may not know what to do to go about doing it, so we need to get the word out there. The more native plants we plant and the less and less chemicals we spray the better the ecosystems will become balanced and pollinator populations restored.

  Trinity Smith studies ag science at Stephen F. Austin State University and is an avid beekeeper.

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Whatever is passing for news is puzzling

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FromEditorsDesk Tony CroppedBy Tony Farkas

It’s October, so everyone knows what that means (if your answer is anything like pumpkin spice, I’ll make you run laps).

That’s right, it’s time for silly stories.

To keep you from having to do it, I’ve combed the news sites — legitimate and otherwise — that posted headlines that are headscratchers, puzzlers and ones that make you go, “Huh?”.

That, and sometimes even I need a break from the drama plaguing the planet.

So we’ll start with this gem from Breitbart News:

•Woman claims Disney World waterslide caused severe ‘wedgie’ injuries

Yep, such like the coffee lawsuit, a woman in Florida has filed a suit claiming injuries and internal organ damage from an “atomic wedgie” while “enjoying” the Humunga Cowabunga water slide.

I’m sure there will be folks chiding me for calling this headline silly since the woman was injured, but hey, as the saying goes, “You pays your money and you takes your chances.” Also, “Gravity is not just a good idea. It’s the law.”

•From CNN: Scientist calls record global heat in September ‘gobsmackingly bananas’

I just hate it when a story forces me to run to a dictionary to understand technical jargon.

•From MSNBC: Vikings had windows, another shift away from their image as barbaric Norsemen, Danish museum says

Nothing screams breaking news more than upending people’s stereotypical view of Vikings as brutal seafaring marauders with braids and axes.

FYI: They had the global heat story, too.

•From Fox News: Ed Sheeran dug his own grave in his backyard: ‘Really morbid’

I guess since you can’t take it with you, just never leave.

Also from Fox News: ‘Jerk’ great white shark takes big bite out of woman’s tuna

Was it a casserole? A sammich? Nah, she was fishing, caught a critter, and became informed about the real circle of life.

•From Politico, via MSN: Say goodbye to the Covid-19 vaccination card

Were we ever supposed to say hello? This little bit of fascism was drummed up by the powers that be in their fervor to save us from ourselves, cause 535 mostly lawyers know everything.

•From the Associated Press: A Texas official faces criminal charge after accidentally shooting his grandson at Nebraska wedding

The gentleman in question had thought to fire a blank as a “starter pistol” for the wedding. The gun misfired, hitting his grandson in the shoulder.

•Back to Breitbart: U.S. customs seizes giraffe poop from traveler planning to make necklace

I got nothing. I’m completely perplexed.

•From ABC News: Wisconsin GOP want to make public nudity a crime

This is what the focus is, not anything of merit. Why is this just now coming up? Is there an overabundance of nudity in a state with average daily winter temperature is a sweltering 33 degrees?

•Here’s one on pretty much every news site I’ve run across, in one form or another: Mayorkas cites ‘immediate need’ to waive regulations, build border wall in Texas as immigration surges

In the immortal words of John McClain, welcome to the party, pal. Texans have been trying to tell you this for years. Decades, even.

Sure hope we’re not missing anything important with all of these high-level stories clogging up our mental chyrons … wait a minute …

Tony Farkas is editor of the San Jacinto News-Times and the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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