Friday's Odds and Ends

The only good thing about when the summer heat hits Texas like a blast furnace is that flowers like the Mexican Petunia start to bloom. I'm trying very hard to make it my favorite flower as it blooms from late June through late October. Unlike pansies, which are my favorites, but have a much shorter life span in Texas. 

First bloom of the year

In Monday's post I mentioned the fact that Texas Governor Perry vetoed a bill that would have allowed school districts to deal with truancy cases in ways that would not make truancy a crime. Weighing in on the topic in the Dallas Morning News, a young teen volunteer columnist, Shruti Rao, pointed out that one problem with the policy is that it redefines poverty as a crime.

"By criminalizing truancy we are sending the wrong message." Ms. Rao wrote. "The message we are sending to disadvantaged students by treating them like criminals is basically: You are bad for being poor. "

Ms. Rao is also a teen court volunteer, and cites the example of two students who have truancy issues that are totally out of their control. Their parents are not able to keep a car running to take the kids to school.

Ms. Rao acknowledges that there are some students "who don't go to school because they are defying the law." But in her role as a teen court defense attorney she sees many more defendants who are there because of family circumstances. "If we treat poor, innocent kids like criminals, they will lose their faith in society. Ultimately, we as a society will pay the price."
 
Have you heard of patent trolling? Apparently this is a practice where attorneys look for patent applications that even remotely resemble the product produced by their clients, and file a lawsuit. When applying for a patent, people are encouraged to get patent insurance to cover the costs of those suits. I remember a time when trolling for clients was frowned upon, and the worst stigma an attorney could have was to be called an ambulance chaser.

I am a real animal lover - just saying in case you haven't noticed. (Smile) But I cringed when I read about a Dallas man who was convicted of felony animal cruelty for killing his girlfriends cat, but acquitted of assault charges for attacking his girlfriend and her daughters with a stun gun. He could go to prison for killing the cat, but gets a walk on the assault. Doesn't seem right to me.

Now for a bit of fun from the comics. This is from Mother Goose and Grimm:

Grimm is in a store to return a toaster. He says to the clerk, "This toaster doesn't work. I want my money back."

The clerk responds, "Sorry, no refunds unless you can prove its defective."

Grimm drops the toaster, then picks up the broken pieces and hands them to her saying, "It's defective."


Literary Lesson: 

"Doubt was a necessary element of life, one often not appreciated until later in life. Only with doubt could one challenge his assumptions and ensure that his course was proper."  From Unintended Consequences by Marti Green.

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.