Just Trying To Do My Part

LTE: John Whitmire - Bad Optics

OK, I don't squawk often about what the Chron editors do to my letters: space is limited and I've actually enjoyed watching them parse my riffs whilst retaining the jist, but this rendition was severe.  You be the judge.   Here's what made it into today's Chron:

Bad optics
Regarding "Whitmire, UH chancellor tangle via text - but remain allies" (Page B1, Wednesday), it's easy to read Lisa Falkenberg's column and conclude that state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, is nothing but a crusty, honest man of the people for the way he treated University of Houston Systems Chancellor Renu Khator over her decision to mandate that more students live on campus rather than commute from home. Whitmire may well have had good intentions, but he came across as a self-centered bully. This type of behavior should not be encouraged in our public officials.
Pete Smith, Houston

http://www.chron.com/default/article/Monday-letters-Corporate-taxes-redistricting-5722423.php
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And this is my original post:

Regarding "Whitmire, UH chancellor tangle via text — but remain allies" (Wednesday City & State), it's easy to read Jill Falkenberg's article and conclude that State Senator John Whitmire is nothing but a crusty, honest man of the people for the way he treated UH chancellor Renu Khator over her decision to mandate that more students live on campus rather than commute from home.  However, Falkenberg's article is completely lacking the barrage of accusatory text messages Whitmire hurled at Khator.  Secondly, it's clear that he went off on her based solely on media accounts of the policy, rather than educating himself on the particulars.  Khator was correct in saying that reporters got the story wrong, since they left out - among other important points - the numerous exemptions built into the policy.

 

Bottom line, Senator Whitmire hurled accusations without bothering to educate himself about the facts.  Then when confronted with the facts, he doubled down and hurled more accusations.  Then when Khator acquiesced and apologized, he piled on with another barrage of accusations.

 

Whitmire may well have had good intentions, but he came across as an ignorant, self-centered bully.  This type of behavior should not be encouraged in our public officials. 

 

Pete Smith

Houston, TX

Major League Baseball Cost Per Win

Here you go, Sports Fans.  If the playoffs were held today, the teams in black would be playoff bound.  And check out the cost per win.

LTE: Nothing New

Regarding "Grand jury indicts Perry on 2 felony counts" (Saturday Front Page), one's first reaction is to ask: "what's new?"; Democrats across the land have perfected the practice of using taxpayer dollars to criminalize the activities of their opponents, mostly the Republican Party.  You have but to look at the Obama IRS suppressing Tea Party groups or Democrat efforts to impeach Wisconsin Gov Scott Walker for the two most recent instances. 

 

Closer to home, Austin Democrats are into their 11th year of persecuting former Republican House Majority leader Tom Delay, despite a previous conviction being vacated by the courts some months ago.  Delay is well past double jeopardy status, but Democrats seem comfortable squandering tax dollars for another decade to ruin the life of a man who's major offense was that he was a key player in banishing them to the political wastelands back in the 90s. 

 

It will be interesting to see how Rick Perry reacts: he can play it the conventional way, go radio silent and let his lawyers do the talking for him, or he can hit the streets and make this a national issue.  How I would love to see him on The Tonight Show, cutting up with Jimmy Fallon and connecting Texas Democrats with the Obama Administration.  It would be a fair comparison, and it would shine a much needed spotlight on their decades-long use of the offices of government for their political ends. 

 

It is time they started paying a price for their serial abuses of the public purse, and the public trust.

 

Pete Smith

Houston, TX
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http://www.chron.com/opinion/letters/article/Wednesday-letters-The-Perry-indictment-5699164.php

Nothing new

Regarding "Grand jury indicts Perry on 2 felony counts" (Page A1, Saturay), one's first reaction is to ask: "What's new?"

Democrats across the land have perfected the practice of using taxpayer dollars to criminalize the activities of their opponents, mostly the Republican Party. You have but to look at the Obama IRS suppressing tea party groups or Democratic efforts to impeach Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for the two most recent instances.

Closer to home, Austin Democrats are into their 11th year of persecuting former Republican House Majority leader Tom DeLay, despite a previous conviction being vacated by the courts some months ago. DeLay is well past double jeopardy status, but Democrats seem comfortable squandering tax dollars for another decade to ruin the life of a man whose major offense was that he was a key player in banishing them to the political wastelands back in the '90s.

It will be interesting to see how Rick Perry reacts: He can play it the conventional way, go radio silent and let his lawyers do the talking for him, or he can hit the streets and make this a national issue.

Pete Smith, Houston

Just Once, Would It Kill A Democrat To Do The Math?

Day 14,176 looking for those EOCs (Evil Oil Companies). Still haven't found any.

A barrel of oil has 42 gallons. A barrel costs a hundred bucks. The oil component of a gallon of gas costs 2.40. Average taxes on a gallon of gas are 50 cents. Average price per gallon for gas is $3.50. That leaves gross revenue at the pump per gallon of 60 cents, split between the retailers, distributors, refiners and producers.

So if Exxon is a producer and refiner, they're getting somewhere in the range of .30 per gallon.  But wait, that's gross revenue. Whack the costs of production and overhead before you realize gross margin; then whack interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization before you reach net profit. 

In conclusion, The Evil Oil Companies make pennies from each gallon of gas, and employ millions. The Feds alone siphon 18 cents out of every gallon of gas, and don't do a damn thing to earn it.

Of course, there's a simpler way to calculate profit, based on stats from your very own federal government.  The Bureau Of Labor Statistics reports that even for very profitable companies, net profits hover around 10-12 percent.  Do the damn math, but consider that even on the profits that oil companies generate, the federal government carves out a bigger percentage for themselves than what is earned by shareholders.

This is why I so enjoy articles like this, where moronic Liberals demonstrate their inability to grasp even a basic concept like profit:

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/smui/following_the_money_whos_profi.html

It's Probably Israel's Fault

Just read that ISIS is raiding northern villages in Iraq, and according to the reporter I'm quoting verbatim, are "taking the village women for their wives." Who told this idiot to sugar coat kidnapping women and turning them into sex slaves? And is it just me, or is there no meaningful Islamic distinction between a "wife" and a "sex slave"?

Hogs At The Trough

Regarding "4 to get year’s salary in HISD deal" (Thursday City & State), HISD leaders awarding four teachers guilty of cheating a cushy severance package ought to be offensive not just to taxpayers, but all concerned citizens.  These teachers had no right to the money, their union had no right to pursue it, and HISD had no right to squander the yearly tax contribution of at least 50 households to make these cheaters go away.

 

What is most distressing about this whole sorry affair is the deafening silence of the remaining 12,000-plus teachers and school administrators responsible not just for teaching Houston's children, but for their right conduct.  What kind of message is conveyed to our students when the people entrusted with their education refuse to speak against such behavior?  

 

Sadly, this incident is not isolated; there have been numerous other similar stories of cushy payoffs for public employees that they didn't deserve, including gigantic payouts across the spectrum of public employment for accumulation of supposedly unused vacation and sick time, bonuses to incent teachers to quit, and most recently, the HFD union demanding a fat new contract just to get fireman to show up in sufficient numbers to provide a bare minimum of coverage.  And let us not forget the grand-daddy of all public sector pay scams: the insane inflation of pension benefits perpetrated, not coincidentally, by the fraudulent representations of union retirement boards that will eventually bankrupt the city of Houston.

 

It's bad enough that public employee unions care not a whit about the citizens they fleece for their sumptuous contracts, but it would be nice to hear public employees themselves occasionally speak out against the manifold abuses of the public purse on their behalf.  Their failure to do so serves only to further lower the bar as to what is unacceptable, and further emboldens their unions to make even more unconscionable contract demands in the future.

 

It's the least to be expected of people who wish to call themselves  - without irony - "public servants". 

 

Pete Smith

Houston, TX