A Jeffersonian In East Texas

Why the bank bailout sucks:

Let me see…

• I have to pay more tax money so that an inefficient government agency can give it to banks who will try to loan it back to me at inflated rates.

• It flies in the face of every solid economic principle in history.

• The original intention, although somewhat misguided, was to relieve the homeowners of some of the debt burden, and this has now been completely reversed.

• The banking bailouts have been of such a nature, that the federal government now owns a huge portion of the private banking industry. it is yet to be seen which one is the least efficient at operating them.

• The entire system is artificial to begin with, and now it is being propped up by more tax money.

There are hundreds of other reason this bailout sucks, so if you have some, feel free to post them in the comment section.

According to the Tyler Police Department yesterday was a busy one for traffic accidents. Unusually high numbers of accidents are often the harbinger of the holiday shopping season, but I would love to know the number of drivers involved in such accidents who were actively involved in the use of a mobile communications device when the accident occurred. I am willing to bet that it was 80% or better.

I have said it before: If the state of Texas, and the county of Smith does not take the cell phone driving problem as seriously as driving while intoxicated, (both are impaired drivers) It needs to apologize to everyone convicted for dwi, and refund all expenditures!

How I do hate to see that yellow cardboard post card arrive in my mailbox. No one likes to be in the jury pool, and I am no exception to this, but like most of the rest of you, when the summons is made, I answer the call. In today’s encounter, it was noted by Judge Skeen, that out of the 195 potential jurors summoned, all 195 showed up! I am almost certain that this is some type of record in Smith county.

There are so many things wrong with our justice system, both locally and nationally, but trial by jury is the one thing that works about half way right about half the time. Please pardon me if this seems cynical, because it is not. If you understand the sad condition of the criminal justice system in general, you will understand that this is really quite a compliment.

I see the jury system as being one of the last strongholds of the people, in the field of criminal justice, which is largely an impersonal, bureaucrat beleaguered system. It may be the only thread holding the fabric of justice together in our society. When a jury is given the right information, and the right instructions, the system works better than any other part of our justice system.

But…well, there is the rub. A jury must depend on the rest of the system to work properly before they can do their job properly. That is, that all the evidence is presented, all the testimony given, and all the instructions given, are fair and accurate.

It is my personal belief, that in Smith county Texas, “reasonable doubt”, gets unreasonable restrictions. It seems that if the district attorney presents a case, the only reasonable course, according to them, is conviction. Any doubt, is considered unreasonable!

Nonetheless, I joined the other potential juries with a sense of duty, and an awareness that such time consumming activities are necessary to the survival of our Republic, but I must admit that there was a sense of relief when the official in charge thanked us, and said: “If your name was not called, you are free to go.”

Several people I have talked to lately have been worried about the Barack Obama health care plan, and are worried that we may be headed toward socialized medicine. I share that concern. Socializing or nationalizing anything that should be handled in the private sector is troublesome to me on many levels.

The problem with these concerns is the quarter from which they emanate. Most of these folks are staunch Republicans, and I find that most of the Republicans moral authority on such issues evaporated when the House, Senate, and the Republican president chose to effectively nationalize the nations failing banking system.

The banking bailout is the biggest taxpayer rip off in recent memory, maybe ever. Every ounce of moral authority on almost any issue has been drained from both parties. The standard two party system is in shambles, and it is time for a different, more Jeffersonian look a the the political system.

Just when you think things in Smith county Texas politics and criminal justice have been as weird as they can be, someone comes along with information that raises the bizarre bar! What I am talking about is a story in the Clyde’ Report that says that the “Yes” committee paid the wife of Smith county attorney Robert Davis (the lawyer hired to fight the Attorney General of the State of Texas on the issue of disclosing the Smith county jail documents) for her services through her political consulting firm.

For the rest of the story, see: Follow the Money Update

In Smith county Texas, a lot of people are saying a lot of interesting things about the local media’s coverage of the local jail bond issue. Most notably, the local newspaper, which seems to have become a mouthpiece for jail supporters. The local news media does about what you would expect from small town news. It reports on the stories that it thinks the public should know about, protects the image of the area that the communities power base wants to project, looks at criminal justice issues from the perspective of only showing the powers that be in as positive a light as possible, and functions as a preservative for the status quo.

That is about all we can expect from such media sources, being as inbreed as they are. The one notable exception to this trend was the coverage provided by CBS 19.

Even if the local media wanted to say anything negative, the local political structures keep the facts from them. The city of Tyler, has a policy that no one employed by the organization speaks to the media on any subject without the approval of the city manager, and if they do, the wrath city government will rain fire and brimstone on the offender. I am sure that the county has a similar policy.

It is time for a change in the local media and local government. It is time for more transparency. It is time for alternative media.

We have had a long period of mostly serious discourse over the issue of the now defeated jail proposal in Smith county, and it is now time to loosen up a little bit. To do this, we would like to publish a few lawyer jokes, and we invite you to send your own favorites to us. Use the comment section, which you can access at the left hand top of the page.

Just a couple of examples from local cases:

Question: What do you call a lawyer who rants and raves on local news programs, and winds up helping to defeat a bond he supported?

Answer: Robert Davis!

After 4 recent failed jail proposal in 3 years, we thought it might be good to offer some advice on how to do it.

Things that have to be done before we will vote yes:

• Stop arresting people for “ticketable” offenses.

• Take full advantage of the effective measures already being used in Smith county.

• Develop more “out of the cell” ideas, and fund them.

• Get more courts to speed up the process.

• Get more space for judicial use.

How the plan should be developed:

• Only after the above steps are taken should this even be attempted.

• It should be developed openly and transparently.

• It should be developed with input from all concerned parties, not just officials.

• All fear mongering should be left out.

More on this topic later.

It could be too late, but there is still a chance.

When Judge Baker came into office, he was seen by many as being one of the best hopes for county government in the beleaguered history of Smith county. Personally, I felt the same. I thought that we were seeing the birth of a new county government with a heart and a brain! I, like many others, am now asking, “What happened?”

My tendency is to think that it is a case of “bad company corrupting good morals”. If that is the case, it may not be too late.

A good start would be to admit that the most recent course was the wrong course, and that the the closed door meetings were a mistake as well. Getting rid of the attorney hired to cover up the mess would also go a long way toward healing. Besides, the lawyer for Smith county commissioners, Mr. Davis, was probably the best tool that jail opposition had! The hiring of a rude and raving attorney looked like desperation to the public, and sent many voters to the other side.

A big part of the world got a big shock last night! In our small part of the world the electorate gave what should have been a shock to local officials, but I fear it was not effective. Smith county officials have not realized that the population of the area has changed, and the attitude of the area has changed along with it.

Voters in these economically questionable times, chose a 125 million dollar school bond package, and rejected a 59 million dollar jail bond package. Officials can no longer blame the jails failure on the peoples reluctance to vote in favor of additional taxes. If taxes had been the issue, both bonds would have failed. Officials have blamed past jail bond failures on taxes and economy, and that rationale has evaporated. It is time for the officials to take a long hard look at the real problem, and the real reasons.

It is time to get some input from people other than the same old county cronies. The status quo preserving advice coming from people who fear that any change might lead to some personal economic distress is not working, because the political clout has shifted.