Well, I can't stay gone. The clinic spa can't hold my interest all the time. So, I looked through the emails you sent about the SB 422 debate tonight. Here's the short version. We all love Carter Casteel and Senfronia Thompson. We are sort of depressed that Hupp didn't get block knocked off by Carter, and we're pretty sure that as the session winds down, some folks are just getting wound up.
While tonight's debate was surely exciting and at many times heated, several key moments made the late night worth every penny:
1. For the record, Carter Casteel rocks. She, unlike most of her fellow party members, stood up for what was right tonight. While her amendment to strip out the voucher language in SB 422 went down on a tie vote, she did an amazing job. Oh, and it only went down in a tie because the Speaker voted. The previous Speaker voted less than a handful of times in his ten year reign. This Speaker voted at least 5 times tonight. Food for thoughtâ?¦
2. I didn't know Senfronia could move that fast! As Mr. Grusendork tried to postpone SB 422, 'Fronia sprung from stage left to nearly rip the microphone away to call a point of order. Notice to members: 'Fronia is a lot faster than she looks and if you're not careful she's liable to bitch slap you.
More Color Commentary after the jump
3. If you can't stand the heat, then just give in. When citizens called Representative Fred Brown's office today, they were told he adamantly opposed vouchers. However, when the slick headed former car salesman voted, it was quite the opposite. When confronted by a constituent in the pit, he said the leadership was withholding his $20 million dollar summer school item for Texas A&M unless he voted for vouchers.
4. New way to fund school financeâ?¦ultimate fighting championship on the House Floor. Geren and Grusendork almost came to blows tonight when Geren placed and amendment to remove Ft. Worth and Dallas voucher program with Irving and Arlington. So Mr. Grusendork, it's good for the big school districts but not your wealthy one?
-The ever lovely, Botox-ridden Debbie Riddle tried her best to move her upper lip while reading verbatim the script handed her by Craddick
-Representative "Who the fuck is that" Davis made his attempt at defending vouchers. Stammering more than a prepubescient male caught yankin it, Davis tried his derndest to hold up to Sly Turner. It was all for naught. As Sly said, if you cant stand the heat, get outta the fire.
- After a few D's chose a particularly odd time to step out & take a piss, Casteel's amendment failed 72-72. Right after that, Reps. Grusendorf & Geren stepped out into the aisle, stared each other down, exchanged fightin words, and attempted to engage in fisticuffs. Were it not for the quickly intervening sergeants and reps, Geren woulda knocked Grusendorf upside his hearing aide.
Go-Z.I want that one on a DVD.
"House Members Gone Wild!!!!"
"keeping low standards" - the voucher language didnt require private schools to test the way texas public schools do, even though they become state funded institutions. if you listened to Casteel she pointed out that the Charter schools in SA are all rated as academically unacceptable. some standards i must say.
"no choice" - yes, let's have the few students that rise against adversity in inner city schools get cherry picked by the private institutions that only accept those B average or above students from pub schools(see Edgewood). seems like handicapped & learning disabled students don't have that choice cuz privates wont take them.
as per minority kids - "We have a Texas Constitution that says it's up to us to educate all children and not take money away from the public school system," said Rep. Carter Casteel. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared/tx/legislature/stories/05/24vouchers.html. Educate *all* children. Single out the minority kids if you want, but it was Grusendorf & Harper-Brown who shit a brick when the amendment to move vouchers to their neighborhoods was passed. I think the D's & Casteel were working for all Texas children, not just the minorities they could parade in front of the public as an example of their compassion.
for the record...let's indeed thank Carter Casteel (btw a Republican, albeit a smart one) and the Democrats who did not whore out to Craddick Donors & Co. You dangle chairmanships in front of some D's & they find a convenient time to "step out & take a piss". also, note the comment on Brown from above...if you think those who led the fight against vouchers were the whores then i'd love to hear your opinion on those R's who saw Leininberg's big bucks and didn't come a'runnin.
good to know the labor community is represented by a guy who misunderstood & misrepresented the entire debate.
All kids can't have it, so make sure none of them can. The sorry ass mantra of the Democrats, the equal sharing of misery.
Senate wouldn't have been opposed to a pilot; the House keeps ruining everything for everyone because members get so goddamn greedy all the time. Look at Worker's Comp! Seriously y'all need to realize Craddick isn't God.
The H.B. 422 debate proves that the House is the BEST late-night entertainment available. The cable companies ought to pay the House for being able to put that stuff on the air. WWF, watch out!
Gee, how freakin' OBVIOUS is it that "snrub" is a (relatively) rich white bitch? It's amazing how these Republicans suddenly care about poor, minority kids when it gives them an excuse to beat-up on public school teachers or a chance to funnel public school funds to church schools (their REAL ultimate goal in the voucher scheme). Somehow, though, they're silent when it comes to health-care for these same kids.
It is amazing to me that the press, not one, has mentioned that Carter Casteel talked about a memo being passed around the floor that stated that "public schools have forfeited their right to exist". The true believers in our state leadership (read R's) don't even acknowledge the right to a public school education, to the exisitence of a public school system at all. They could have gotten a copy off the House floor and printed it....but would even that, wake up the people of this State? I'm sad to say, probably not.
Hey snrub, here's an idea for you, you smug jerk, why not increase funding for public schools and give the schools what they need so that the "minority" kids can get the same opportunities that the white suburban kids have? The same class of facilities, fine arts and athletic programs and the discretionary funding that allows for SAT tutoring or foreign language classes? Because guess fucking what, Latino and African American children are no longer the minorities in Texas public schools and this Legislature could care fucking less whether or not our kids get a decent education. They want to kill public schools and ignorant people like you play right into their hands.
They say it's not in the U.S. Constituteion or the Bill of Rights to provide public education but it damn sure is in the Texas Constitution.
Article 7 - EDUCATION
Section 1 - SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE OF SYSTEM OF PUBLIC FREE SCHOOLS
A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public free schools.
i am so sick of hearing more money for schools. gulf coast dem girl - last i checked english, math and science didn't vary from school to school. the teachers sure do; that's why we need incentive based bonuses. if we keep running our schools without realizing we need to demand accountable teachers, texas children will continue to fall behind in national ratings.
keep pumping money into schools... god i am SO sick of hearing it. Wonk, if we WERE to fund SAT/ACT prep classes in every school, we'd still be hearing about how some schools are falling behind. i'm not a big proponent of vouchers, but my god, it's no wonder our children can't read, write or add when the teachers are guaranteed a raise every year for another piss-poor year of service.
of course teaching children isn't the exact same as running a business. but really, it's not all that different. all i'm really saying is that if i took my dog to be trained at doggie-school, after 9 months it still shat all over the floor, i'd expect my money back
$30k - $32k isn't a bad start these days for a college grad. why shouldn't we have increasingly higher expectations of teachers, just like any other profession? you get solid health care and three months off. there's plenty of bitching about how texas teachers don't make shit, but when you take into consideration the cost of living in texas, we ain't too bad.
i'm ranting, yes. it's late. the teachers went home at 5pm, after spending all day calling their legislators. from school. in the classroom. while the kids were taking a test, so it's okay.
Hey Bob, go fuck yourself. But before you do, answer me this - if money isn't the issue, why the fuck does the White Republican Majority want to make sure none of it leaves the suburbs?
And unless you were ever made to attend an inner city school without air conditioning or enough textbooks to go around, don't you fucking dare say that English and Math are the same at every school.
But I guess the teachers are to blame for that too, right?
That's one thing I don't get about you fucking people - you starve public education, refuse to pay a decent living wage to teachers who, despite what you may believe, don't only teach because it is a calling but because they are indeed professionals, and you wonder why, as george w. bush says, "our children isn't learning."
Fucking idiots, all of you.
You sure are articulate. Starve public education? What a joke. You are an absolute joke. Maybe we could be like D.C. and just keep pupmping the money down the hole, and there will ALWAYS be an excuse. Schools exist to educate kids, kids don't exist to fund public schools.
Nobody's laughing, bitch. The Republican scum that purports to give a shit about kids in this state has reached new heights of hypocrisy. You said it yourself, increasing funding for Texas schools, of which at least 60% are Latino or African American, is "pumping money down the hole." Now we all know people like you think it's a waste of money to spend it on educating black and brown kids and I thank you for clarifying that.
Bob,
When was the last time you spent more than five minutes in a school, any school, in Texas, since the day you graduated from high school? An hour? A day? A month?
When was the last time you had a decent conversation with a truly devoted teacher who works in a public school? a truly devoted teacher who works in a private school? a middle school counselor? a high school counselor? a high school math teacher?
Have you ever been a volunteer in any activity associated with a public school?
And, are you making an assumption that the conditions in every school system in Texas are just like they were in the one where you received your education?
Why I am asking these questions? It's because I think you need to do your homework before you go out in public making comments about issues like this, and the content of your post suggests to me that you have not done any homework on this subject or very little.
Is there a teacher in my family, you may be asking yourself? Yes, there is, and it is not me.
Anyone else ask themselves why no one can use the back elevator, when the House is in session, yet the guy who pulls Craddicks puppet strings is sitting in his Apt.
The labor movement would like to thank Carter Casteel and other Democrats for whoring out once again and keeping low standards, no choice, and minority kids where they belong. Way to go!