Monday Morning Musings

So, Governor Good-Hair as we sometimes refer to our esteemed Texas governor, has done it again. Rick Perry recently vetoed two bipartisan ethics bills and rescinded state funding for the prosecutors unit that is investigating his cancer research fund. 

In an article in The Dallas Morning News written by Christy Hoppe and Robert T Garrett of the Austin Bureau, Craig McDonald of Texans for Public Justice was quoted as saying, "Perry's office is an ethical black hole. Ethics reform goes in. Nothing comes out."

That is one black hole that needs to be closed up.
 

Perry also vetoed a bill that dealt with equal pay for women, saying that women have enough recourse in the Federal government for equal pay issues.

Umm, right. Like that is really working.

I think Perry's hair interfered with his brain when he vetored those bills, as well as one that dealt with truancy. A bill to put the responsibility on school districts to find ways to improve attendance among truant students before pursuing criminal charges was passed by the House, but Perry shot it down. Under the current program school districts can refer a student to court after three unexcused absences, and Texas is one of only two states in the country that prosecute truancy cases in adult court.

Really? What about family court? As any teacher and he or she can tell you that the number one problem with truancy starts on the home front. 

On the topic of NSA secret-leaker Edward Snowden, Dallas Morning News columnist, Jacquielynn Floyd, says that we do need to be concerned about what Snowden is possibly doing in China and how that affects our national security. However, she also says we need a serious discussion about "...balancing personal privacy and national security. And in that discussion we should all get to participate."

All in favor, raise your hands.

Yesterday I received one of those messages that authors just love to stumble across in their e-mail inbox. A reader contacted me to say how much she loved Boxes For Beds, my new historical mystery. In fact, she said she readthe book twice, and at first I thought she was the same person who had said that in a recent review on Amazon, but turns out she is not. To get that kind of affirmation for my work is such a thrill, but it is also very humbling because I know there are few books that I like well enough to read more than once. I am always so eager to get on to the next fictional adventure, I don't often go back to previous ones. I imagine that most readers are like that, too, so it means a lot to know that at least two people have liked the story well enough to give it a second read.

That's it for me for today. Leave a comment if you are so inclined and let me know what you are musing about on this Monday.

Do Politicians Think We're Stupid?

Actually, I think they do. Consider all the mis-steps, lies, shady dealings, and other nefarious activities associated with those in the political arena. How can they keep doing all that and still try to convince the general public that they deserve our trust and respect?

The latest bit of shady-dealing news concerns Texas House of Representatives member  Joe Driver   who is on the hot seat for double billing the state and his campaign fund for travel and other expenses.  The total amounted to a little over $17,000.

Granted, not a lot of money in the overall scheme of things, but it is money he thought he was entitled to. When the double billing was discovered, he said he did not realize there was anything wrong with asking reimbursement from the state for expenses his campaign fund had already paid for. Can he look at himself in the mirror and honestly say there was not a little voice suggesting that perhaps this was wrong?

More recently, he has said an ethics official told him that charging both was okay. So, if he did not think there was anything wrong with it, why did he consult an ethics official?  I would really like to know the name and credentials of that ethics official.  None of the ethics courses I took ever had a loophole for outright fraud. 

Perhaps the biggest irony in this whole mess is that Driver has reimbursed his campaign fund, but not the Texas taxpayers. So he still get's to keep the money. Shame on him.

What do you think? Is there any excuse for this type of thing?