Lamar Smith advocates for Soviet style political interference in science

Lamar Smith hasn’t learned a thing from the Soviet Union’s dalliance with political interference in science. In the 1940’s Trofim Lysenko was an agronomist who became director of Soviet biology under Joseph Stalin. Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of a theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics. He used political pressure to direct agricultural scientists and farm policies that ruined farm productivity for decades before he was finally discredited. Smith wants to revisit Communist style control of science here in the U.S.

While Smith’s immediate target seems to be political science research that he doesn’t agree with he is a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist which believes that sickness is an illusion caused by mistaken beliefs, and that the sick should be treated by a special form of prayer intended to correct those beliefs, rather than by medicine. Will that non-sense lead him to advocate for eliminating funds for medical research?

Smith’s bill would replace peer review at the National Science Foundation with a set of funding criteria chosen by Congress. His bill would also start a process to determine whether the same criteria should be used by every other federal science agency. Do we really want a bunch of lawyers deciding what is worthy of scientific research?

Kuempel throws local school districts under the bus - Again!

State Representative John Kuempel continued to attack public education by actively participating in the witch hunt that killed CSCOPE thereby costing many school districts in the state money as they will now need to develop their own individual curricula instead of sharing resources with all other districts. Superintendent Burnie Roper of Lackland ISD called the claims of anti-Americanism in CSCOPE “ridiculous.” Given that Lackland ISD serves many children from the sprawling airbase I doubt Roper’s anything less than a patriot.

Shortly after the vote Thomas Ratliff, Republican member of the State Board of Education, issued a press release that said in part “With the elimination of CSCOPE, the amount of resources and human capital required to develop curriculum for those 875 districts just multiplied because they are all on their own again.  This is the very duplication of effort and waste of taxpayer dollars that CSCOPE had solved, at least before today.”

Last session Kuempel disregarded pleas from constituents and local school board members who urged him to protect funding for public education and instead voted to cut public education funding by $5 billion.

Once again Kuempel has thrown the school districts in HD 44 under the bus telling them to find the resources to replace the service CSCOPE had provided them without fully restoring funding to prior levels. Local control means that each independent school district had the choice to use CSCOPE or not, with this vote Kuempel and those who supported this witch hunt have removed that option.

Kuempel more interested in favor of homebuilders than constituents

While my state representative John Kuempel has been ignoring the pleas of his constituents in Guadalupe County for stronger consumer protection for homebuyers he’s been busy currying favor with homebuilders by getting HB 1503 passed. That’s a bill which adds seats for those builders on the advisory boards that oversee licensing of electrical and air conditioning contractors.

Rather than tell the likes of DR Horton and Pulte Homes that it’s unacceptable to sell homes so poorly built that their slabs break into pieces in as little as two years John Kuempel has arranged for these builders to add more power to their already outsized influence with the specialty subcontractors they need to build homes. Remember homebuilders aren’t licensed like electricians and plumbers, they don’t have to pass any tests to show competence all they have to do is hang out a sign that says they’re a homebuilder.
We can all look forward to more shortcuts and substandard materials as the DR Horton, Pulte and their ilk exert pressure on electricians and air conditioning contractors through their new seats on the licensing boards. If like me you’re appalled by Kuempel’s disregard for his constituents in favor of big money campaign donors I urge you to call his office at 512-463-0602 and let him know you want him to support the home buyers lemon law HB 1887.

Expanding Medicaid good for Texas, great for Guadalupe County

Over 27,000 or more than 1 in 5 citizens of Guadalupe County has no medical insurance according to the nonpartisan Center for Public Policy Priorities and therefore will have restricted or no access to medical care and prescription medication. More than 5,500 of those who are uninsured are children. Gov. Perry has so far refused to accept federal funds available under the Affordable Care Act that expand Medicaid to cover more than 15,000 additional people here in Guadalupe County.


Regardless of how you feel about the man in the White House or whether you think the Affordable Care Act should be repealed don’t you think that Guadalupe County and the rest of Texas should have the opportunity to draw down those funds for our citizens. It isn’t just health care for low income or out of work people we’re missing out on. It’s nearly $20 million a year which is enough to pay almost 400 additional medical professionals like Registered Nurses and family doctors. Just think of the economic impact of adding 400 more highly paid professionals to the local market, that’s new customers for everything from restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores and auto dealers to clothing stores, bakeries and convenience stores.

If Texas doesn’t participate in expanding Medicaid those dollars just go to other states to make their plans more generous. If Rick Perry let’s that happen isn’t that like cutting off your nose to spite your face?

Rep. Kuempel fails to serve his constituents

State Representative John Kuempel is more interested in dogs and cats than he is in his own constituents. Homeowners all over Cibolo have been suffering from new homes with foundation failures caused by the shoddy construction practices of major home builders and we sought help from Rep. Kuempel. We asked him to file a bill in the Texas legislature to provide home buyers with the opportunity to have their lemon homes bought back by the builder when they have repeatedly failed to remedy significant problems.

Currently you have a more consumer protection when you buy a toaster than when you buy a home even though it is likely the largest single investment you’ll ever make.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that while you have to have a license to cut hair, operate a nail salon or drive a car, home builders aren’t required to have a license. Soon if Kuempel gets his will dog and cat dealers will be licensed and regulated but not home builders.

Cibolo Mayor Jennifer Hartman, Councilman Steve Liparoto, Guadalupe County Judge Larry Jones and Commissioner Jim Wolverton all supported us and urged Kuempel to file the bill. In the last days before the bill filing deadline he wouldn’t even meet with his constituents; instead he filed HB 1449, a bill to license and regulate dog and cat dealers.

In education as in life "you get what you pay for"

We’re all familiar with the old adage “you get what you pay for” but Rick Perry and the Republican controlled legislature seem to think it doesn’t apply to public education in Texas. It should be no surprise that with Texas education funding lower per student than 45 other states we have high failure rates and many of those who do graduate from high school aren’t really prepared for college. Now District Judge John Dietz has ruled that state funding is so low as to be unconstitutional. The Republican leadership wants to drag things out by appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court even though the ruling is consistent with what the Supreme Court said in 2005.

The Comptroller’s office has now reported that it has collected $8.8 billion more in taxes than projected in 2011 which could easily cover the $5.4 billion that the legislature cut from education funding in the last session but the Republican leadership is holding up using those funds with claims that we should wait and see what the Supreme Court says about Judge Dietz’s ruling.

Most school districts in the state have had to request waivers of the student to teacher ratio rules because they don’t have the money to hire enough teachers. Every year we delay adequate funding of public education we damage the children of Texas and their futures. Call you state legislator today and demand that they address education funding like the critical issue that it is.

What's more important to you, your right to a trial or your gun?

While the bed wetters among us are all outraged about supposed infringement on their Second Amendment rights I’m not hearing much from them or anyone else about a far more chilling government breach of our constitutional rights. President Obama has taken it upon himself to determine enemies of the state and sign off on the execution of American citizens without a shred of judicial oversight. This is beyond the Patriot Act which opened Americans to invasions of privacy such as national security letters to libraries and internet service providers demanding our records without our knowledge and beyond warrantless wiretaps. This is giving one man the power to snuff out the life of an American citizen anywhere in the world at any time without even a single hearing before a judge.

The gun crowd is dampening their drawers over concerns requiring background checks on every gun purchase and limiting magazines to 10 rounds somehow violates the Second Amendment that even arch-conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia thinks is a limited right. At the same time many of them are supportive of these extra-judicial killings of people who have not even killed anyone let alone another American. I’m a lot less worried about the government taking my gun away than I am being bombed by a drone; after all look how many people are denied air travel because the government put their name on the “No fly list” because their name sounds like some reputed terrorist.