CTRMA Boondoggle

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has a 2012-13 budget of $43.2 million taken from Texas taxpayers and toll tax revenue. 

 

The agency was proposed and pushed through 10 years ago by former Rep. Mike Krusee, whom Texans did not reelect because of his questionable special interest motivated actions.

 

The toll agency, which currently manages 2 toll roads should be dismantled. The toll roads that it plans to build and manage on MoPac Expressway are a sham and are not needed. CTRMA borrowed $130 million to add to the toll road building. The proposed toll roads will not ease traffic conditions; they are simply a source of new revenue. Furthermore, Texas does not need ongoing toll roads. 

 

Texans need an intelligent, well-managed and reality-based Texas Department of Transportation that works in the best interests of the entire community. There is no reason in the world that CTRMA agency head Mike Heiligenstein should be making $250,000 annually for running an agency that plans toll roads in Central Texas, except that he is appointed by Gov. Rick Perry.

 

Perry and Texas Legislators refuse to let the gasoline tax catch up with inflation and also continue to divert gasoline tax revenue to their other interests, which is part of the reason TxDOT hasn't sufficient money to build and maintain our roadways. 

 

Lastly, toll roads are an inefficient and poor cost effective method of building and maintaining roads and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority may raise toll costs at will without approval and has little oversight to ensure it is working in the best interests of the community at-large.

 

Credit Bureaus: the bad boys get more clout...

This article was printed back in 2009. Some things never change.

P

http://archive.truthout.org/topstories/11250902

Time to Quell Excessive Power of Credit Bureaus, Sometimes Ruling Life or Death

Wednesday 25 November 2009

by: Peter Stern, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

(Image: Lance Page / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: ground*floor, Your Pal Dave)

During the past several decades in the US, three credit bureaus have become so powerful, they can make or break American lives.

They are Equifax, Experian and Trans Union. Any one of them has the capability to cause many sleepless nights of worry for American citizens, and on many levels their power and control rival that exerted by the dreaded IRS.

While it may take only minutes for any company extending credit to provide the bureaus with negative financial information or comments on a person that can stay on an individual's credit report for up to 10 years, it may take years for an individual to get incorrect negative documentation corrected and/or removed.

The God-like power wielded by "the big 3" was recently brought to light when a woman was deemed an unacceptable applicant for a residential mortgage because the bureaus classified her as dead. Based on misinformation provided by the credit bureaus, she was refused a mortgage.

The power currently exercised by the credit bureaus may also determine whether a prospective employer will hire you since credit reports may be used to prescreen job applicants. Why should a person's reported financial status determine whether he or she is eligible to be hired for a job? The purported state of a person's finances should not eliminate the chances of a prospective employee.

It is absurd and unconscionable that entities with such little oversight should have such immense power over the lives of American citizens, and it is time to diminish the extent of that power in the best interests and personal rights of American citizens.

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This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

 

We need to take better care of our Veterans...

In response to Austin Statesman article... “Department of Veterans Affairs to track how veterans die“

 

It's way more important to service them and their needs while they are alive . If you service them properly they will be tracked in the system.  I am in the VA system, but I am lost to them.  There is no real follow up by the VA.

 

Of all the problems I have had with the VA system since I returned from the military during the Vietnam era, getting narcotics was the easiest.  All you have to do is mention the word "pain" and you are prescribed narcotics.  It's easy to get strung out on them. Little has changed over the years.

 

I also believe the VA needs to process disability claims more quickly and REASONABLY and not make deserving veterans get an attorney before they are given an honest disability rating.  I fought the VA for more than 8 years before it gave me the rating I deserve.  It's an infantilizing and despicable process.

 

 

Texas Gun Laws are Fine...

...But fewer restrictions are needed, especially re: gun free zones.

 

Before getting a concealed license you must take an approved state class, show gun proficiency and safety knowledge, pass a fingerprint and background check. I think all of that is the right approach to approving a concealed gun license. It weeds out most of the lunatics. However, even some law enforcement personnel make mistakes or go bonkers occasionally, so nothing is 100 percent safe.

Still, I would feel better if our children are protected by gun toting security professionals. The military in Israel is all over the place. You can't breathe without seeing some on every corner and in various stores and schools. You can't close your eyes here and pretend not to see the insanity all around us. Protection makes sense, as long as it is done intelligently and/or professionally.

 

 

TxDOT sugarcoats its toll revenue...

We’re being told that TxDOT will be in the “black” and making toll profits by 2014. I doubt it. No matter how you try to sugarcoat toll roads, they are an abomination to communities in every way imaginable. Tolls are simply new and additional taxes. People think you only pay tolls if you use the road, but that's not true. We all pay tolls even if we don't use them. We pay additional costs added to goods and services when providers add their toll costs to our purchases and we also pay for road bonds with our property taxes.

In addition, we are manipulated by toll authorities who do not need to get any approval to increase toll costs. Furthermore, tolls are usually forever. Tolls are supposed to stop when the roads are paid for, but I only know of 2 times when that has occurred in our nation: once for a small road in Dallas and once for a parkway in New York City.

Toll roads being started on North MoPac are NOT needed. They will NOT improve traffic flow. They will be added out of greed, not purpose. Capital of Texas Hwy (360) at Hwy 290 needs overpass routes and ones are needed at MoPac and Slaughter Lane, but TxDOT whines poverty and doesn't do it. Reason: TxDOT wants to put in toll lanes at both sites.

TxDOT whines poverty for projects except when it "finds" $320 MILLION to add to the proposed MoPac toll project. We are surrounded by corruption. Texans should wake up and smell the Starbuck's!!! You will leave your children and grandchildren with mega toll costs, while tolling agents make 80 percent off the top of toll collections.

Don't drive on toll roads and contact your state house reps and senators to stop the bloated toll mentality!

Looking at the wrong folks for guidance on Education...

In response to “Hammond: Fewer tests, more flexiblity for STAAR “

 

Why is Bill Hammond, CEO of Texas Association of Business, constantly viewed as "the Guru" on public education? The guy has no background in public education and in fact is pretty uneducated on the topic.

 

In fact, Hammond is the one who was a proponent of increasing class sizes and cutting the number of teachers as a means to save money in education. All the studies show that is a ridiculous option and it would hurt children even more.

 

Hammond and other business people simply want to use their business methods in education instead of recognizing that you can't have successful learning outcomes that way.

 

Business is business and education is education... 2 separate entities. We look to the wrong people to

guide us in resolving education issues.

 

“Right to Work” Agenda

As big business continues to screw American workers, there will be a drive to reinstate unions to combat low wages, poor work environments, fewer sick and personal days, no or little health care plans, fewer vacation days and poor retirement packages. Unions will return. It is cyclical.

 

BTW, if businesses were FAIR to their employees they would actually eliminate the need for unions. But that is not the case.

 

Lastly, “Right to Work” is a GOP political ploy to eliminate the unions, and thereby large campaign financing, for Democrats. It will give Republicans more clout and money in winning elections.

 

The Party of Eisenhower and Reagan should work as diligently in selecting viable and grounded candidates for office.

 

 

Public Education Obsolete

More Texans need to home school their kids. 

 

Public Education has become obsolete and we can thank Governor Perry, Texas Legislators and the School Board of Education because they have killed it. 

 

Voters deserve part of the "thanks" because they have permitted it. 

 

Homeowners deserve "thanks" because they have paid the most for it.

 

Our children suffer because of it.

 

 

And once again it's time for REDISTRICTING...

After the party lost several house seats in the recent election, there is a current push by the Texas GOP to redraw the court-ordered state redistricting map.

Redistricting according to Texas law is supposed to take place once every 10 years. Conservatives in Texas continue to look like spoiled fools as they try again and again to gain more positions by their ongoing arrogant and malicious attempts to redistrict when it suits them.

"The times they are a-changing..." -- Bob Dylan

Texas is slowly changing from "red" to a “pinkish hue” before it turns more “blue” and there isn't much the GOP can do to change that reality. Redistricting is one of the last attempts of a frustrated party growing stale and losing its mega grip.