Sunday, May 20, 2007

Time to React

Wordsworth wrote, "The world is too much with me" in the 19th Century. What might he have written in the 21st Century?

There are so many levels on which one might react today that it seems overwhelming.

On the one hanrd, there are many petitions to Austin and the horrible deal that Ric Perry made with the Devil called the Trans Texas Corridor. On another hand, there are the various Anti-Iraq War petitions to Washington.

Knowing that no matter where I send a petition -- whether Austin or Washington -- the "elected" representative will ignore the petition does not help.

The Cancer is too much with us.

The desire for material gain and control holds fast in both Austin and Washington.

For example, consider the air we are forced to breath in the DFW region. Both Joe Barton and Perry have accepted money to either block passage of Legislation that might restrict polluters or have enabled legislation to allow polluters to run amook.

Logically, such actions do not make any sense. Consider the human factor first and then the economic factor.

The human factor is that thousands of people are struck annually in the DFW area with respiratory problems -- some fatal. Even Barton's own brother died of lung cancer and when he comes to the region he has to restrict his stay or else be transported back to the Hospital to prepare him to leave the area again. But still he takes the money and . . . .

The economic factor is harder to argue on specifics; however, consider those thousands who have to seek medical help annually. They take time out from work, they tie up doctors, they press medical insurers, etc. Is all that worth a few thousand dollars of bribe money Joe or Ric?

So now Perry proposes a Trans Texas Corridor, and will veto any Legislative action that seems to threaten it. But does he care whether the people of Texas want his fantasy? He accepts the bribes and continues onward.

The TTC will make air pollution worse. More cars will exhaust more pollutants at every Toll Plaza -- not to mention how much tolls will inflate everything, from visiting Grandma to buying an egg. So what if more people die from air pollution or starvation -- Perry got his bribe.

Aren't you glad he cares about Republican family values?

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