Tasers questioned after recent deaths

Groups are questioning police use of tasers - supposed non-lethal - after recent deaths. Six Texans have died during the past 9 months as a result of being shocked with taser guns.

Community residents wonder if police are being too agressive in using tasers. Recently in Austin, during a peaceful anti-inaguration protest, police used a taser on a student who was doing nothing more than holding a sign. Although he didn't suffer serious injury, the use of the taser is being challenged.

School funding plan hits poor, helps rich schools

If the House version of the proposed school-funding plan remains intact, Highland Park School District, a wealthy enclave of Dallas with about 6,100 students, could hit the jackpot, with access to an additional $35 million in school funding annually above and beyond what the district gets now, according to the Equity Center.

House leaders want to impose a 35 percent limit on the amount of tax revenue that wealthy districts have to share in the state's so-called “Robin Hood” funding system.

Former Legislature to lead Gay marriage fight

Former Texas Rep., Glen Maxey of Austin, has been named to lead a statewide effort to thwart a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Maxey, one of the first openly-gay Texas elected officials, will lead a coalition effort against the amendment which the Legislature has placed on the November, 2005 statewide ballot.

Slavery in Texas: 2005

Apparently some didn't get the word on Juneteenth 1865. The Texas Civil Rights Project this week filed suit in the 139TH state District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas on behalf of two women who were victims of human trafficking and forced labor.

The two women were transported to the United States after being promised jobs, but forced them to work with no pay when they arrived. They managed to escape through a window in the house where they were held against their will.

Low-income kids not getting best teachers

Children from low-income families, are too often educated in schools with the least-qualified teachers, according to a recent study by the University of Texas.

The findings quantify the commonly held notion that the state's best teachers work in the most affluent schools, leaving less-qualified educators to teach low-income students.

Shelters brace for more foster children

Recent efforts by the Legislature to enhance Child Protective Services (CPS) may have an unintended effect: an increase in children referred to foster care.

Foster children shelters are bracing for an influx of new children and are worried about where all of the children will go. Texas currently has had about 17,000 children in care but more than 19,000 are expected by 2007.

School Funding: Special session meets

A special session of the Texas Legislature is meeting to try - once again - to come up with a fair and equitable plan for financing schools in Texas.

After several years of wrangling, there is hope that this special session will produce what others have not: a sensible plan that can be supported by the majority of Texas. Schools need our help!

A whole "Lotto" trouble

As the Legislature was considering expanding gambling throughout Texas, inflated figures of the lottery are coming to light.

The head of the Texas Lottery Commission told investigators that the public was decieved by recent jackpot estimates.

E. Texans confused over Supreme Court

Many East Texans are confused over the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the display of the 10 Commandments at the State Capitol grounds in Austin.

The court's split ruling only adds confusion to an issue that has divided Texans for awhile - the freedom of expression and religious exercise.

Bush speach on Iraq: "A Broken Record"

As more and more Texas youth die in the Iraqi desert, the President's recent remark on the war "sound like a broken record."

The President "thinks he shows courage when he insists we stay the course and accept the near-daily slaughter of our troops as vital to our nation’s future."

(ARCHIVES: May 30, 2005) Legislative failings mean leaner school budgets

School officials and community board members will be sharpening their pencils this summer due to the Legislature's failure to pass school finance reform.

Educators, already burdened by some of the fastest growing enrollment in the country, now face the prospect of budget shortfalls during the next two years. Special programs, extracurricular activities, and teacher staffing are all at risk because our elected officials sent to Austin were unable, or unwilling, to make school finance decisions in a climate dominated by rich powerful interests.

Although Texas would rank as the eighth richest nation in the world (see: Texas Emergency Archives 01/13/05), on its own, politicians prefer to dole out money to their friends rather than provide servant leadership for the basic needs - like education - that benefit all Texans. Lawmakers had discussed giving teachers raises (Texas ranks 32nd in the nation in average teacher pay) but instead got sidetracked by corporate giveaway programs.

The new $200 million Emerging Technology Fund will receive $200 of taxpayer's money the Texas Enterprise Fund got $185 million more (see: Texas Corporate Welfare Cheats Archives: 10/21/04). Both of funds provide take monies from hard-working Texas families and give it away primarily to Fortune 500 companies, as early reported by Texans for Peace. Schools go needy while some of the richest companies in the world take their profits from here. Has the Texas Capitol become our "Tammany Hall"?

Failing to make the grade (continued from Page 1)

Almost the entire public leadership of Texas - from the Governor to the business lobbyists that roam the marbled halls of the Capitol each day - flunked when it came to making sensible decisions regarding financing the future of the state. Instead of courageously discussing investing in young minds, they worked to take from public coffers and return millions back to some of the state's richest industries: semiconductors, computers, energy, aerospace, and defense businesses.

Meanwhile, school officials that thought they would receive new funds from the Legislature now instead are looking at budget areas to cut. With little more to spend than $7,000 per year per student, even some wealthy districts anticipate belt tightening will be needed. Houston ISD, which has cut more than $100 million out of its budget during the past 4 years, is bracing for another round. Terry Abbott, spokesman for district says "at this point, it makes it harder to keep the cuts out of the classroom.''

Superintendent Wayne Havens of Lubbock ISD has almost 30,000 students in his care and says that the district's 2005 to 2006 will be challenging. "I would anticipate the budget we come into this year will be less than what we're working under right now," he says. Every year LISD generally hires 300 teachers, but this year, funding will force the district to hire fewer.

The next two-year budget calls for a 19 percent growth in spending but it includes no teacher pay raises, no teacher health insurance benefits, no new money for schools and little else to help with the education the children of Texas.

Many Texans remember the Texas budget surpluses during the early 1990's, before the legislature went on a tax-cutting spree. Now, the state's finances are in terrible shape yet the mantra most heard in the Cap's rotunda is "tax cuts get us elected." This session marked the third time that the Legislature took up the issue of school finance without substantial progress. If a student fared as poorly on tests as Governor Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick did on policymaking, they would be held back a grade. It's unclear now weather the Governor will call a special session on finance or whether the courts will intervene.

Members of the Legislature apparently failed History and Economics when they were in school. What other explanation can be given for their shortsightedness in failing to invest in the future - the children of Texas? Parents, teachers, students, civic, and business leaders should be outraged we live in a state composed of more than 22 million educated, talented, prosperous citizens and have a government run by simpletons.

Texans: End the War in Iraq

More and more people are joining Texans for Peace End the War in Iraq campaign each week.

As the war continues, families across Texas are bearing the primary brunt of the war - 1 in 10 soldiers come from Texas. Washington remains silent on the US casualties: 12,762 soldiers injured as of June 6, along with 1,658 dead.

Texas nuclear dumping begins

The first of 2,000 truckloads of nuclear waste arrived in the Texas town of Andrews this week. “I think it is very short-sided to contaminate the environment for a short-term gain,” says Andrews resident John Post.

The waste, from the Department of Energy uranium processing facility in Ohio will be stored in Andrews. Eventually, the company will use up to 80 trucks a week to ship the waste to Andrews.

"War" in Laredo claims another

"Los Dos" Laredos, Laredo and Nuevo Laredo continue to fight a battle between well-organized criminals and the community (see: Violence escalates in border region 05/08).

This week the police chief was murdered just hours after he was sworn in. Alejandro Dominguez was killed by gunmen riding in sport utility vehicles as he emerged from his office.

The violence along the border has residents on the edge. They ask, "where is the help from Washington and Mexico City?"

Military spending breaks $1,000,-000,000,000 mark

Global spending on the military in 2004 broke the $1 Trillion for the first time, with the US accounting for almost half of all military spending. Since 2001, US military spending has risen by 39%, in part because of the war in Iraq.

Worldwide, military and defense spending is equal to 2.6 percent of the global domestic product, or roughly equal to what 1/3 of the world's poorest families earn per year.

CPS reform bill signed by Gov.

Governor RIck Perry has signed the Child Protective Services (CPS) reform bill, one of brightest pieces of legislation passed this year. It provides for 1,500 new caseworkers to handle and a thousand more support staff.

CPS reform was considered a "critical" need by the Legislature. The reforms should help reduce case loads to a manageable level so that Texans can receive better quality services.

Walmart challenged to provide health care

Groups across Texas gathered at the Capitol this week to "Wake Up" Walmart to the need to provide affordable health care coverage for their employees.

Walmarts's skimpy-to-nonexistent health care benefits force tens of thousands of workers and their families onto taxpayer-funded public health care roles.

(Last Week: 05/25/05) Target Marketing: Feeding Teens to the War Machine

Since the late 1990's military recruitment has been on hard times. No longer able to use the threat of a Cold War with Russia, military recruiters were unable to meet their "target" goals and began more aggressive advertising and enlistment bonus programs. They also began more direct recruitment of teenagers at the expense of increasingly angering parents, educators, and activists who are organizing counter-recruiting.

Recruiting is BIG business

Since 2000 the Defense Department has dramatically stepped up recruiting efforts and expanded programs targeting of youth through programs in the schools such as Junior Reserve Office Training Corps (JROTC), funding of sophisticated video games, and new advertising campaigns.

Neocons in Congress and the White House have helped too. The No Child Left Behind Act, an early piece of legislation supported by President Bush, required high schools across the country to release information about juniors and seniors to military recruiters and to give them the same access to students as college recruiters and prospective employers.

Now there's the failed War in Iraq and only the most uber-nationlistic parent would encourage their child be sent to that country. The National Guard missed its recruitment quota by 13 percent last year. The Army fell short of its goal by more than 27 percent in February 2005 and is more than six percent behind its year-to-date recruiting target. The Reserve is 10 percent behind its target and the Guard is 26 percent short. January through March 2005 was the first time in a decade that the Marines missed their monthly goals.

Instead of reflecting that they might be going in the wrong direction, the military added 1,200 new
recruiters to the field and said it would spend more than $3-4 billion for advertising campaigns, enlistment bonuses, and recruiting in 2005. The military uses sophisticated marketing techniques, database companies, and other other tools as they target teens throughout the United States. They are making particular use of schools as places to enlist children in war, particularly in less-affluent parts of the country.

Recruiters call selected students repeatedly, tracking their responses in a computer program the Army calls "the Blueprint." Targeted students are hit with a blitz of mailings and home visits. Recruiters go hunting wherever teens from a targeted area hang out, following them to sporting events, shopping malls, and convenience stores. Recruiters are trained to analyze students and make a pitch according to what will strike a motivational chord -- job training, college scholarships, adventure, signing bonuses, or service to country.

Along with this new aggressiveness has come problems: accusations of assault, harassment, and even drugs has caused the military to have a recruiting "stand down" as they assess their efforts. The New York Times reported that one if five recruiters is now under investigation.

Even when acknowledging that parents and teachers are less likely to recommend a career in the military, officials claim that they don't understand the reasons behind the change in recommenders' positions.

Perhaps its the increasing dissatisfaction with the militarism of our schools and programs such as Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC). They're finding JROTC too controversial, too likely to promote violence, too expensive, too controlled by Washington, too discriminatory, and too much at odds with the goal of creating critically-thinking students in gun-free schools.

Not My Child

As the military has stepped up recruiting in schools, counter-recruiters have also begun visiting schools more. Non-Military Options for Youth, an Austin organization, has visited every high school in that district to provide students with information on non-military alternatives for public service and college. Student groups are increasingly taking part in counter-recruitment activities and are taking their message directly to the recruiting offices such as recent actions in Colorado, and Missouri, in addition to Texas, California and New York.

Teachers organizations and Women's groups have also gotten involved. During the past Mother's Day, members of Code Pink held vigils and anti-recruiting activities in more than 20 cities throughout the nation

National coalitions of groups are forming as well. Texans for Peace has joined the organizations throughout the country as part of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)'s counter-recruitment program, United for Peace and Justice, and the Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools (CAMS).

Together these groups work to limit the influence of military recruiters on middle and high school children and help kids to make well reflected and peaceful career choices. As an organization committed to peace and social justice, Texans for Peace also supports efforts of groups, such as the Central Committee of Conscientious Objectors, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace that assist persons who want to leave the military.

A Democracy of Free People

Texas, and America, are still places where freedom is worth fighting for but increasingly the battle is within: between those who would waste the nation's youth on the misadventure of war and the majority who value our children - our future - and have no desire to see them fed into the war machine. Let the "old men" in the Pentagon go if they want to fight…leave our children out of it!

Charlie Jackson*, Texans for Peace

Get active in this area, join with Texans for Peace or another group in your area to stop military recruitement of our youth.

* Charlie Jackson is the father of two sons, 18 and 13.

Texas Presbyterians accompany Colombians

A group of Texas, part of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) will be in Barranquilla Colombia during the next few weeks accompanying villagers who are threatened by the war between the paramilitaries and the rebels.

Scheduled to go to Colombia are Jane Moore and Marilyn White, both members of the Community Church of the Servant-Savior in Houston, TX; Cat Garlit Bucher (a Texans for Peace member, see: Little Hope, But Great Strength) of Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church in Sherman, TX; Phil Gates of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Prescott, AZ; and Gert Walsh of First Presbyterian Church in Sheboygan, WI.

Colombia is the 2nd largest recipient of US military "aid" after Israel and an example of how throwing money at the military and unpopular governments doesn't work.

"Moms" launch "Kitchen Campaign" as Mil Recruiters stand down

A new group, Mainstreet Moms has launched "Leave My Child Alone.org" campaign to protect their children's privacy from the unauthorized release of student information to recruiters under No Child Left Behind Act.

As army officials suspend military recruitment for one day in an unprecedented "Stand Down" following ethics scandals, MMOB "Moms" are taking steps to ensure that the home addresses and phone numbers of minors are not released by high schools to any outside parties without explicit parental consent.

Texans continue to die in Iraq

Four Texans died in the way in Iraq, during May bringing the total of Texas soldiers killed to 151 since the war began March 20, 2003.

All members of the Texas congressional delegation, except Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) and Ron Paul, (R-Surfside) continue to vote for funding the war.

Halliburton Protest: Heard Around the World

Hundreds demonstrated in Houston this week at the annual board meeting of Halliburton...the largest recipient of US funds from the war in Iraq.

News of the protest and 16 arrest has been picked up around the world...but don't expect to get the details from Fox News.

You need to hear it directly from those who were there via the Houston Independent media and Austin indymedia centers.

DC needs more guns: Sen. Hutchison

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a pro-gun and war advocate, has revived legislation to repeal the ban on hand guns in the District of Columbia.

"It's a matter of self-defense," Hutchison said at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol, where she was joined by fellow Texas Senator John Cornyn. There have been dramatic declines in gun violence in DC since the District's ban on handguns and semiautomatic weapons, enacted in 1976.

Ever fearful, Hutchison became involved in the issue after being elected to the Senate in 1993 and discovering that she couldn't keep her own handgun in her home. "I had to dismantle it," she said. "I had always had a handgun in the drawer next to my bed."

Austin child brings loaded pistol to school

Last week tragedy was narrowly avoided after a pre-school student brought a loaded pistol to Blanton Elementary school. A quick-thinking 5th grader saw that the gun was real and took it away from the youngster.

Charges have been filed against the grandfather of the 5-year-old boy who got the gun from home.