I admit I've been out of TX for a number of years, due to military service, so please excuse my ignorance. Has it always been this bad? The format of that debate was a joke. Trivia time? My god. I saw nobody that I would be comfortable voting for. Our state is in big trouble as I see it. I'm actually jealous of my Californian brother that has to decide whether Arnold's good points outweigh the opposition's. It seems that we will be trying to decide who sucks less rather than who is most suitable. To be fair I may be a little pessimistic about Texas politics from spending the last few months in the intellectual armpit of the country (College Station) and seeing some pretty wildly new/Nazi-ish/KKK (to me at least) views on things. What the hell happened to Texas? It's not as I left it.
Deckard.. I think it is probably easiest if we focus on each issue one by one and try to get a full understanding of each candidates positions. I would like to learn as much as possible about each candidate. I think we might as well start with the issue of education since that is always important. Education is something that is very important to me and I think is important to many people. As far as education goes, I'll touch on some of the things that Governor Perry has done that I think are helpful. 1) Raises for teachers - Under Governor Perry, there have been teacher pay raises and I think that is an important step to attracting top notch teachers. I think most people are generally happy when teachers get raises because they do such important jobs and competitive pay goes a long way in attracting quality individuals into the field. My sister is a teacher and they are starting to make good salaries and I think that is only good for education. Pay raises are something that I think most candidates probably are in favor of and I'm glad that Governor Perry has helped make this happen 2) Merit Pay - Merit pay is something that not everyone agrees with, but I support. This is an issue that I learned about some in college and I strongly support the idea of merit pay. Teaching seems to be one of the few fields where you rarely get fired and your performance doesn't seem to decide how much you are paid. Under the usual system, whether you are the worst teacher or the best teacher doesn't usually matter, what matters tends to be how long you have been at the school. I agree with that way of doing things and think we must find better ways to decide pay. Governor Perry has worked to make it where the best teachers are paid more than others and I support that goal. I am in favor of what he is doing to reward the best teachers. 3) College Prep Curriculum - This is another thing that Governor Perry has worked on that I support. I think too often students aren't getting the education they need in high school to prepare them for college. Starting next year, students will be required to take what i consider to be a better curriculum. This includes having four years of science, math, language arts and social studies. I think it is important that high school students have that level of education and think this is a good plan. 4) Increased funding - He has worked to increase funding for education which is always important. It shows that we recognize the important of education. Increasing funding for education is something that most candidates likely support. 5) Have schools spend at least 65% on classroom instruction - This is something that I think is very important. Many people blame the state, but I think the local school districts are guilty of not always using their money wisely and I think it is a good idea to make sure a large % of the funding is actually going to classroom instruction. Those are five of the things that Governor Perry has done to improve education. On the topic of education in general, I'd like to expand on my issues with me disagreeing with some of the priorities of school districts. For me, the new "academic support center" built by CFISD is something that drives the situation home. I went to school in that district and was subjected to crowded schools with portable buildings because of a lack of classroom space. According to the CFISD webpage, this facility includes an arena, stadium, theater, conference center and satelite food production. The arena and stadium are quite large and I personally think the facility is more than was needed. With building costs, operating costs, etc I think the district would be better off just renting an arena for graduation for instance. Some of the things were needed, but I wouldn't have approved of the facility as it is, but I believe the locals didn't have much of an option. Yes, there was a vote. However, it was lumped in with a vote for new schools so if you wanted to vote for new schoools.... you also had to vote for the academic support center. As bad as schools were needed, it's be hard to vote against it. Things like this are frustrated and I think districts could use money in a wiser manner. Here are some pictures and more information on that topic http://www.cfisd.net/bond/esc.htm http://www.cfisd.net/bond/esc_photos.htm Check out the arena and stadium. I'd love to hear some things about education for the other candidates. Hopefully some of what I said makes sense
This should read: Under the usual system, whether you are the worst teacher or the best teacher doesn't usually matter, what matters tends to be how long you have been teaching. I disagree with that way of doing things and think we must find better ways to decide pay.
whats amazing to me, is all the people who still think kinky is left leaning.... he's the clostest thing to perry in this election, but the sheep of the republican party don't seem to realize it. i voted for perry in 2002 and what has taken place under his leadership to advance the state? 1) he says he sent troops to the border before bush ordered it... well why weren't they sent there 3 years ago? why aren't they armed? how is that keeping us safe? 2) he raised taxes on businesses, and on smokes. while giving "$2000" back to home owners... most people are going to see <$100. 3) this trans texas corridor. we voted for it? i dont recall ever having that referendum to vote for. bell clearly won the debate, and perry looked good in it, which is clearly why neither should get votes. unless strayhorn drops out perry will get be in office again. and that's the biggest tragedy of all. kinky gets my vote because: 1) he wants $10million sent to houston to clean up the katrina crime mess 2) 10,000 troops to the border 3) legalized casinos to pay for education, much better than raising taxes and taxing a declining product 4) he says what he thinks, if that offends you, too bad. like he said, "if you're not offending somebody you aren't getting anything done." 5) he's against the land grab of the texas corridor 6) he gets my vote because he is the only viable candidate in the race to compete with perry. look what the dems managed in the last election, almost 40% with perry getting 57%. it would be much closer if it was a 2 party race, but this state is by far a red state and perry would win in this scenario. if anyone thinks the democrats actually have a chance, they're fooling themselves.
Perry did recently pledge $10 mil to Harris county and surrounding areas to combat violent crime. http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/press/pressreleases/PressRelease.2006-09-28.2249
funny enough he had what? 9 months to do this, but he waits until 3 weeks after kinky says this? http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/2006/09/friedman_addresses_immigration.html
Like I said, I'd love to hear about each candidate. It is always nice to know about each person as much as possible.
perry and bell are business as normal. if you like the status quo, the direction texas is heading in, and don't like, or fear change then vote for either of them. if you watched the debate, what you saw of strayhorn is what you're going to get. she'll try to please everyone and fail miserably. kinky will throw a wrench in the system, he has many good ideas and is extremely inexperienced. most of those not voting for him are afraid of what he'll do. they don't seem to want to take a chance, but like he says, "i can't screw things up any worse than they already are." this is pretty much my view of these 4 guys. i really wish werner would have been invited, i'd love to see what the libertarian candidate has to say.
rodrick.. Well, I think we can agree that it is a lot easier to say let's give money to this or that when you aren't actually in office. Kinky wasn't the first person to realize that we had a crime spike and I don't think the Perry money might not have necessariliy been a direct result of Katrina.
Inexperience does bother me.... Lots of us have good ideas, but does that mean we can actually get them done? There are people on this board with good ideas, but I don't know if I'd trust them as governor. When I see Kinky I see that cigar cowboy hat and all that stuff, but tell me about some more of his ideas? You named a few, I'd like to hear more. I'll look on his site as well.
I meant to say I don't know that the Perry money was necessarily a direct result of Katrina.. or just to prevent crime in general.
very good point, once elected how much can kinky actually accomplish? nobody is really sure, but i for one would like to find out.
rodrick_98... I'll say that many people like the fact that he isn't the normal "politican", but my worry is that to get things done he may need to act like a "politican". He may not be a politican now, but in office he'd certainly have to deal with politics and be able to work with people in Austin.
I don't see how anybody can say that any candidate clearly won this election. You had two political stiffs with the polished suits and all the slick savvy but they're just two talking heads. And then you got Grandma. And an old stick in the mud Texan rough rider. I didn't expect Kinky to be polished and Grandma did just what Grandmas do, talk on and on forever, without saying anything. Come to think of it, so did the other two. The thing about Kinky is he as honest as the day is long. I for one believe that if the vote comes out, he wins. For once, I'd like to see one of these candidates answer the question in a clear concise manner and not think that they have to ramble on and on until they get cut off. I was hoping Kinky would do that. But he even had a tendacy to keep yacking instead of just answering and shutting up. They all keep jibber jabbering after the bell and it looks like a huge sales job and a cover up. The candidate that masters that technique in future elections and debates will have a leg up. Because we are tired of throwing mud and empty promises. Grandmama was horrible. Bashing Perry and Bell and then at the bell coming up with the "I have a program........" line. So what. We've all got programs. Programs are a dime a dozen, except in politics and for some reason they are a Billion Dollars and up a piece, when really they're worth a penny for about 4 dozen.
In other words, would he be willing to surround himself with some "experienced politicans" that know how to get things done on a daily basis. Because many of us might have ideas, but unless we had some politicans around us we wouldn't know how to get things done. What kind of people has he said he'd have working with him? Just curious.
his biggest issue is for biodiesel. biodiesel is a viable energy source, and its more practical than ethonol and e85 that you may be seeing around the state. i can go in to this more, but its rather boring. the key point to take from this is energy independence. he is also for windpower. this is a renewable source, and unlike coal, doesn't pollute. he is against illegal immigration, he doesn't yet have a plan with how to deal with the people here, but he is prepared to order marshall law and get the border under control before brownsville and el paso begin to look like nuevo laredo. i'll add more when they come to mind.
before he was taken as a true candidate, he wanted to appoint laura bush as head of education, and willie as head of energy. he hasn't really laid out any long term plans or goal which people typically want to hear.
