Action Update - Issue 56 :: October 5, 2005
Earle invited filmmakers into his home to discuss his investigation
Earle's Shameful, Unethical Ego
by Janelle Shepard
With not even a blush, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has once again shown his own ignorance of ethical behavior. It's time to turn in your law license, Big Ronnie.
While arguing he is not a 'partisan bulldog', he gloats over indicting more Texas Democrats than Republicans during his almost 30 years in office. If you know Texas history, you realize the Democrats ruled Texas for 20 of those 30 years. (There was no one else to indict!) Earle managed to indict conservative dems and anyone who disagreed with his 'version' of the law. He has thrown rocks at a bunch of politicians, but few have gone to jail.
Now, Earle has kept a grand jury in place for 3 years to squeeze out the indictment of a lifetime before he retires and before the jurors and media lose interest. (yaawwwn.....) To make the story even more exciting, he invited a film crew to document his every step. What a script! Earle sneaks around in shadowy scenes with suspenseful music to make the 'crime' appear more dastardly. See THE BIG BUY: 'Crime story' documentary stirs political ire. What are we talking about? Murder? No, that is a crime that is overlooked by Earle in Travis County. See Murdered Girl’s Father Laments Travis County D.A.’s Broken Promise
Why does
Laylan Copelin, an Austin American Statesman reporter, seem to have the Grand Jury / Earle story before it is released? Why did Ronnie Earle exchange personal emails with former AAS columnist Dave McNeeley. Earle was glad to proof-read McNeeley's articles before they were published. Do you think McNeeley didn't have spell check?
Former DOJ official Barbara Comstock comments on Earle's earlier ethical lapses:
Ronnie Earle's three year political vendetta against Rep. DeLay has been marked by:
Illegal grand jury leaks,
A fundraising speech by Earle for the Texas Democrat party that inappropriately focused on the investigation,
Misuse of his office for partisan purposes, and
Extortion of money for Earle's pet projects from corporations in exchange for dismissing indictments he brought against them.
She concludes:
"Ronnie Earle argues that Tom DeLay conspired to make a contribution to a political party in violation of the Texas Election Code. There was no contribution to a political party in violation of the Texas Election Code. There was no conspiracy. Ronnie Earle is wrong on the facts. Ronnie Earle is wrong on the law."
Weak case? Here is the best summary I've read yet.
Ronnie Earle and the Great White Whale
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Markets Or Government?
Let The Lessons Of Katrina Be A Guide
By Byron Schlomach, Ph.D.
Step off a ladder twenty feet up, you are going to get hurt. The law of gravity is unforgiving. Just as physical laws can only be ignored at one’s peril, economic laws are equally unforgiving. The most basic economic law is scarcity; that is, there are only limited resources to satisfy humanity’s unlimited wants and needs. There is no free lunch.
The Romans “solved” scarcity through conquest and slavery – they took others’ lunches. We have solved it through free enterprise, liberty, and markets – we make our own lunches and mostly get to keep them. Natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina make the problem of scarcity worse, not just by destroying investments that took decades to build, but by making it more difficult for humans to carry on their daily struggle with scarcity.
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The Teacher-Pay Myth
New York Post
By Jay P. Greene and Marcus Winters
FEW cliches permeate our culture more thoroughly than that of the underpaid schoolteacher. In fact, many people would say that if they know anything about public schools it is that teachers deserve far more money than they actually get. Thus, many will sympathize with this week's vote by the New York City teachers union to hold a strike vote in a few weeks if stalled contract talks continue to deny them a raise.
But the idea that teachers are underpaid is a myth. When we discard our presuppositions and look at the evidence, it turns out that teachers actually are better paid than many people realize.
As of 2002, the average salary for teachers nationwide was about $44,600. That does seem modest. But we need account for the relatively few hours that teachers actually spend working compared to other professionals.
Teachers have long vacation periods, several personal and sick days and work a shorter day than most other professionals. We can only properly understand these hours away from work as a benefit of the teaching profession. That is, a teacher who earns $45,000 to work for nine months is clearly better paid than a nurse who gets the same salary for working 12 months.
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