Yesterday I posted the votes on the 2010 Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment, which was created by Senator Al Franken largely in response to the legal issues Jamie Leigh Jones [trigger warning] faces after being gang raped by 7 employees at KBR.
Unsurprisingly, one of my senators was among the 30 older, white, Republican males to vote against the amendment. Here’s what I emailed him:
Dear Senator Cornyn,
I am a constituent and I am writing to express my disappointment over your vote on the 2010 Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment. It speaks volumes about your opinion of rape victims when you vote in support of companies who will fire victims of rape if they try to speak out about their assault.
You do not have my vote in the upcoming election. I do not want a senator who is willing to give my tax dollars to companies who are more than happy to cover the tracks of rapists at the expense of the victim.
As [the unidentified Latino man] approached the intersection of Division and West Avenues, three white teens hanging out in a nearby parking lot called out to him. Seconds later he was struck in the face, knocked to the ground, and as the teens shouted racial slurs, robbed of cash and other personal items. …. Just another case of “beaner hopping” in Long Island’s Suffolk County.
SAN ANTONIO — The highest-ranking criminal judge in Texas, the woman who presides over the most active execution chamber in the country, sat at a defense table on Monday to face charges of intentionally denying a condemned man access to the legal system.
There will be a screening of a new documentary about the border wall this Friday night in McAllen, TX, followed by a Q&A with the director. Perhaps I’ll see of you there!
There’s also a great interview with Ricardo Martinez (the director) here.
THE WALL Screening & Director Q&A WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday WHERE: Cine El Rey, 311 S, 17th St., McAllen COST: $5 at the door ONLINE: http://www.thewalldocumentary.com
For those of you in central Texas, there will also be a screening Saturday night in San Antonio at the Guadalupe Theater (8 p.m.).
In this week’s news roundup, I mentioned that Texas will no longer require Health Education in its pubic schools, and I just wanted to expand on that a little more.
First, some background:
A new law went into effect requiring that students to take 6 elective courses, up from the 3.5 that were previously required. Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott then dropped the Health Education requirement in order to give students more flexibility in choosing their electives. He also dropped 1 semester of the PE requirement and 2 semesters of the Technology requirement for the Recommended high school programs.
There are 3 high school graduation tracks in Texas:
Minimum Program
Recommended Program
DAP (Distinguished Achievement; formerly known as the Honors Program)
The majority of students will graduate under the Recommended, which means that the majority of Texas high school now don’t have to take an extra semester of PE, and can now go through high school without ever setting foot in a technology class, since all that was required was 1 full credit (2 semesters) of technology. Since pretty much everything is technology-based nowadays, what the hell is the TEA thinking?
