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Texas Tries Again on Reducing Property Taxes

Here we go again.  The Texas Legislature is taking yet another whack at beating the court ordered deadline to overhaul the financing of Texas schools.  The court ordered the state to fix the problem of having a statewide property tax.  The state legislature has six weeks left to come to a solution.  I don’t have much confidence in the legislature pass a property tax relief bill or to get along with each other.  So far all they have been able to do is to point fingers accusing each other of dropping the ball.  This will be the fourth special session in two years to fix the funding problem, not including the regular sessions.  From personal experience, I can say property owners need a break.  Taxes have gone up every year until they have finally reached the state maximum.  Since schools says they need more money, appraisers have dutifully increased property values in order to secure more funds.

With an expanding economy, the state has an abundance of funds, over $8 billion in surplus.  According to the AP, Gov. Rick Perry wants the legislature to buy down property taxes by a third with the surplus.  Unfortunately, this is only a temporary stop gap measure which will get around the court ordered deadline this year and maybe next, but in the end, the lawmakers are going to have to find an equitable way to finance schools without going after property owners.  Frankly, they have had two years to fight and squabble, but have yet to find a solution.  I, for one, am ready.  Taxes are too high and are not spread out evenly.  The Republicans have a majority in the state legislature and a Republican Governor.  It time for them to start acting like the majority party.  And if the Democrats do not go along, leave them behind.  Just fix the problem with our taxes.

Jane Fonda to Pass on Global War on Terror

Jane Fonda really wants to get involved in the protest against the Global War on Terror, but feels like people will remember her for what she did in Vietnam rather than her comments on the present war.   According to the AP, Fonda feels she can no longer help the anti-war movement.

“I wanted to do a tour like I did during the Vietnam War, a tour of the country,” the Oscar-winning actress said Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “But then Cindy Sheehan filled in the gap, and she is better at this than I am. I carry too much baggage.”

Baggage is right.  Let’s take a look back at some of Jane Fonda’s ‘activities’ during that very divisive war.  Fonda went to Vietnam and praised the fighting spirit of the North Vietnamese while ridiculing the Americans.  She even had her picture taken on an anti-aircraft gun, one used to shot down our American pilots.  Her propaganda had the effect of encouraging our enemies.  Then Fonda also had her famous radio broadcast part of which is below.

As I left the United States two weeks ago, Nixon was again telling the American people that he was winding down the war, but in the rubble-strewn streets of Nam Dinh, his words echoed with sinister (words indistinct) of a true killer. And like the young Vietnamese woman I held in my arms clinging to me tightly–and I pressed my cheek against hers–I thought, this is a war against Vietnam perhaps, but the tragedy is America’s.

One thing that I have learned beyond a shadow of a doubt since I’ve been in this country is that Nixon will never be able to break the spirit of these people; he’ll never be able to turn Vietnam, north and south, into a neo-colony of the United States by bombing, by invading, by attacking in any way. One has only to go into the countryside and listen to the peasants describe the lives they led before the revolution to understand why every bomb that is dropped only strengthens their determination to resist.

There are a great many veterans out there like myself who will never go see a Jane Fonda movie, who will never allow a Fonda video in my house, and can never discuss the Vietnam War without thinking of Jane Fonda.  And then she thinks an apology for her ‘bad judgment’ and ‘thoughtlessness’ will make everybody forget.  Wrong!  The people of Georgia have not forgotten.  The AP continues.

Last month, the Georgia Senate overwhelmingly rejected a resolution honoring Fonda, an Atlanta resident, for her work preventing teen pregnancy, donations to universities and charities, and role as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations.

Her political activities protesting the Vietnam War, including a trip to North Vietnam in 1972, have long made her a target of veterans.

You think!?  What did the AP think veterans would do, kiss and make up, forgive and forget?  Jane Fonda’s acts of propaganda for our enemies killed American soldiers.  I like General Westmoreland’s sentiments that he should have had her arrested and shot for treason.  You can mark some things down as youthful indiscretions, but Fonda’s actions go way over the top and they will not be forgotten.

Now Jane Fonda is going to help us all out by turning her attention to the Global War on Terror.  America has not forgotten the last time she tried to help us out.  Note to Fonda, we do not need your ‘enlightened’ help.  We were attacked and finally we have a President who knows how to respond by attacking those who would do us harm.  As for comparing yourself to Cindy Sheehan, I only wish you were like her.  Cindy’s 15 minutes of fame are over and nobody took her seriously.  Why can’t you just go away never to be heard from again.  Oh, well.  It was a nice thought.