Not to stir up any big deal, but a few res ponces come to mind:
1. "50th in spending for teachers' salaries, 49th in spending on the
environment, 48th in per-capita funding for public health, 47th in
delivery of social services, 42nd in child-support collections, 41st in
per-capita spending on public education".
a. These are typical liberal attacks, based on funding arguments, not on
results, such as how are Texas' students rated on national test (there
are some Texas DMLers here and they seem pretty sharp to me), how do
Texas cites rate on pollution problems and is their a large public health
issue in Texas ?
b. These stats are just "sound bite" information and do not really mean
anything by themselves, such as "42nd in child-support collections" what
does that mean ? Amount recovered over all or per case? Or is this based
on the number of dead beat dad's/mom's case prosecuted ? Is this figure
per cap ? Does Texas have more child support claims than other States
(didn't Clinton go through Texas a lot) ?
c. A State only has X amount of revenue to spend. And there is always
something that can be claimed that any given State does not rate high in.
What is Texas spending money on ? What do they rate high at ? What do
they have under control, I don't see here numbers about a high high
school drop out rates, gang shootings, rapes or murders. Is Texas'
budget in a large debt or is it balanced ? Where should the money come
from to improve these issues ? You can't make everyone happy.
2. "5th in percentage of population living in poverty, 1st in air and
water pollution, 1st in percentage of poor working parents without
insurance, 1st in percentage of children without health insurance, 1st
in executions (avg. 1 every 2 weeks for Bush's 5 years)".
a. These again are just sound bites and all need definitions. Poverty by
what definition, what dollar amount ? Well, heck yeah, if I was dirt
poor I would go someplace with a cheaper cost of living, warm and where
manual labor jobs could be had, hmmm, where would that be ? If I was
from Central or South America and wanted to got to an area in America
with a strong Spanish heritage where would that be ? If I'm making only
a few hundred dollars a year in, lets say Mexico, and I make only a few
thousand dollars a year in Texas, okay I'm in poverty. What does that
really mean to me ? I'm better off than I was, right ? What kind of
pollution, cows passing gas or oil spills ? I would not be surprised if
Texas' water supplies are over extended, which can easily lead to
pollution. Maybe the State should just shut down Dallas. No one would
criticize the Governor about the lost of jobs, right ?
b. Who said it was the governments responsibility to provide insurance ?
And how long have they been a student of Marx ? That is why you get a
job. To provide for yourself, your family and your Dakota. Government
provided insurance, that must be as good as government provided medical
care in Canada. And gee, I wonder if a significant population of illegal
aliens, who I would bet are engaged in the type of work that usually does
not offer insurance, would effect this stat in any way ?
c. "1st in executions", does Texas have a higher murder rate ? Is the
issue the number of executions or that the State is putting these people
to death ? I don't think Mr. Bush sat on all those juries and gave all
those people the death penalty, but he is held responsible for the
citizens of Texas' courtroom findings ? By the way, has the murder rate
gone down in Texas ?
I'm not saying Bush is the best man for the job, but please look at what
we have had for the last eight years. Moreover, compare Arkansas under
Clinton to Texas under Bush. When Texas was rated 49, who do you think
was 50. Bush might not be the best man, but he is head and shoulder
above the inventor of the internet, discoverer of Love Canal and
inspiration for "Love Story".
Most importantly, don't fall for sound bites.
Lets move this to the off topic list if anyone wants to point out the
errors of my ways.
(Before you say it, your welcome, Ted.)
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:50:42 EDT