Washington
– A special Inspector General released a final report alleging that
$60 billion in taxpayer money has been wasted on reconstruction of
war damage in Iraq.
Standard
operating procedure included high explosive bombing that ruptured
sewer lines on city streets, leaving raw sewage running in the
gutters. Pacification efforts centered around reconstruction of the intolerable condition.
Ten years later, many of these ruptured sewers still ooze stinking sludge, according to the findings of Stuart Bowen, whose report stated reconstruction efforts reached “a size much larger than was ever anticipated.”
A tactic of appointing head men to help identify the need
for reconstruction backfired, according to numerous published
reports, leading to bribery and theft. The result includes hundreds upon hundreds of unfinished projects, stockpiles of building supplies left to looters, and billions of dollars spent without any credible accounting.
Prime
Minister Nour al-Maliki in an interview with an AP correspondent
alleged most of American efforts at reconstruction resulted only in
misspending. He is a Shiite Moslem, a member of the majority party in
this war-ravaged nation.
Austin
– New law nullifying President Obama's thrust toward limiting
Americans' ownership of assault weapons probably won't get an up or
down vote, said the author of a bill designed to preserve Second
Amendment rights.
The
bill would make it a serious misdemeanor crime for any federal
official to try to enforce executive orders or new federal laws
further restricting gun rights. It is considered by knowledgeable
observers to be a states rights, nullification law drafted under the
terms of the 9th
and 10th
amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which reserves any powers not
specifically granted to the U.S. Government by the Constitution to
the states.
Rep.
Toth said he believes the Federalist Committee will report the bill
out, but it will bog down in the committee that schedules proposed
legislation for a debate before the full House. The Calendars
Committee is key to legislation getting a toehold in any session of
the legislature, and is controlled closely by Speaker of the House
Joe Strauss, (R-San Antonio).
“I
have every expectation that the moderates in Calendars (committee)
will try to kill it,” he said.
At
that point, the Lone Star Tea Party personality erupted, saying “Joe
Strauss is not a conservative, yet he runs in the Republican Party
primary!”
Rep.
Toth agreed, but took a more moderate tone, saying, “We're not
doing a good job of turning out the vote.” He pointed out the fact
that some 30 million evangelical Christians stayed away on election
day, shunning the Republican Party candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon.
Mr.
Toth is a Christian minister. He reminded listeners that “Jesus
Christ is still on the throne. We will lose our republic if people
don't get involved in the process.” He decried the younger
generation's seeming disinterest in political intricacies.
The
talk radio host agreed, saying, “We're going to run the names of
any moderates who oppose this bill in the Calendars Committee up the
flagpole.”
Those
with the money, those without it City kitties, County mounties turn up heat
“Put
up the dough, and you can go...” Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash...
Waco
– It's axiomatic in any court of law that it takes a judge to put
an offender behind bars, and it takes a judge to effect the
offender's release. That's an ordinary way of the world, and usually it causes no problems.
In hard times, it's a different story.
It's
a big enough problem that the Commissioners Court will meet in open
session, not in the Commissioners Courtroom, but in a conference room
at the Sheriff's Department headquarters building at 9th
and Washington at 7:30 a.m. on this coming Thursday for a special meeting in which to talk about
possible solutions as to why it's so difficult to make ends meet.
With
$10 million in outstanding fines to be gleaned from scofflaws who did
not contact the municipal court or forfeit bond for Class C
misdemeanor traffic offenses within 10 days, city police officers
joined cops from 300 other cities with enthusiasm in a statewide
sweep known as the Great Texas Warrant Roundup.
The
daily paper trumpeted the news that a young lady named Delena Denee
Gordon got caught in the dragnet, and she paid off $408 in warrants
for driving with an expired license plate and failure to appear in
court.
So?
She
works as an assistant in the victim's services section of the
McLennan County District Attorney's office. According to the report, it just slipped
her mind.
She
was allowed to straighten the whole thing out with a friendly phone
call to the Municipal Court Clerks. She gave them her credit card
number, and they dropped arrest warrants.
Tee
Hee. Curb service.
Sheriff Parnell McNamara and DA Abel Reyna
The
department's official spokesman said they have thus cleared more than
200 warrants in two days, either in similar ways, or by locking the
accused up in the county jail.
Those
who have money or access to convenient credit, go free.
All
others who are either financially embarrassed, or not so fortunately
fixed for credit, go to jail.
District Attorney Abel Reyna declined to comment. He responded to criticism last week that his policies and practices are what's causing overcrowding at the jail. But the truth is, he doesn't operate alone. There are many judges involved, including the County Judge of the Commissioners Court, and they obviously control the cue.
A
newly elected County Commissioner contrasted that glowing report from the City of Waco with
some figures that will help taxpayers understand why the budget for
housing offenders is predicted to total $6.5 million this fiscal year
– several million dollars more than originally budgeted.
Will Jones, Pct. 3
Precinct
3 Commissioner Will Jones was a co-founder of the Waco Tea Party. A
fiscal conservative, he campaigned on a promise to get to the bottom
of why jail cost overruns persist at the McLennan County Sheriff's
Office, and he made a good beginning on the promise by turning over a
detailed list of offenders and their classifications that gives a
snapshot of conditions on a day last month, February 25, 2013.
The
shocking truth is that of the 1,204 offenders who were on that day so
detained, there was nearly equal parity between those accused or
convicted of misdemeanor offenses and those classified as felony
offenders.
There
were 313 locked up for misdemeanors only; felons with cases yet to be
filed, serving time for a conviction, or awaiting transport to TDC
numbered 427.
In
similar categories, those charged with or convicted of both
misdemeanor or felony cases numbered 372.
Offenders
charged or convicted of federal offenses numbered 53. A combined
total of all cases numbered 2,764.
But
it's in the classification and number of days incarcerated where an
inquirer begins to form a picture of what cooks behind McLennan
County bars.
Of
the 39 inmates awaiting traffic cases to be filed, 8 of them had been
locked up for 91-plus days, the report shows.
Minor
offenders are opting to serve their sentences out, see the judge,
receive credit for time served, and go their way.
Two of the six ravens at Bloody Tower, London
That's
not all that alarming, but a closer examination shows that of 72
accused offenders released on their personal recognition, which
requires no payment of a bond surety fee, in all cases, bond fees
were either waived or went uncollected, leaving a total of $233,000
owed by men and women accused of such violent offenses against a
person as aggravated robbery, sexual assault, indecency with a child,
and sexual assault of a child.
Perpetrators
of non-violent but socially unacceptable offenses such as drunk
driving and possession of dangerous drugs went free at an equal rate,
while their poor cousins sat out their time for such major capers as
the Class C misdemeanor offenses of operating a vehicle without
insurance in effect, or driving without a driver's license.
The
pinch comes on weekends, according to knowledgeable sources, when
most misdemeanants get themselves locked up. “Overflow” prisoners
are transferred to the Jack Harwell Detention Center at the cost of
$45.50 per day for “outside care.” That line item exceeded budget
target by 300 percent last fiscal year. That lockup is operated by a
private corporation, CEC, Inc., of New Jersey. It was built at
taxpayer expense for nearly $50 million and will cost nearly $100
million by the time the rate is paid down to zero.
Meanwhile,
a little more than 300 bunks remain empty in the Courthouse Annex
jail located next door to the McLennan County Courthouse. McLennan
County taxpayers paid $1.2 million to remodel and refurbish a jail
that had an operating permit in place at the time of its closure
nearly 3 years ago.
"There are two schools of thought about the massacre, and they almost exactly parallel the thinking of those who think guns should be banned, and those who think they shouldn't."
Ten years later, many of these ruptured sewers still ooze stinking sludge, according to the findings of Stuart Bowen, whose report stated reconstruction efforts reached “a size much larger than was ever anticipated.”
