- This story about how an Arlington man posed as a U.S. Air Force sergeant and stole $500,000 in a bogus check and credit cards is at once frightening for how lax Air Force security is and certainly the makings of a Cuba Gooding Disney vehicle. Throw in a change of heart, a beloved but rundown community center, and a gang of happy, dirty-face orphans, and that’s gold, Jerry, gold.
- Meanwhile, this is a knee-jerk, feel-good move that, like so many other pieces of do-good legislation, will harm the people it purports to help. Sorry, but I believe in acts of capitalism between consenting adults.
- Props to the Dallas Morning News and Austin Statesman for backing better compensation for wrongful convictions. Next up should be criminal charges for prosecutors who withhold exculpatory evidence or otherwise knowingly prosecute an innocent.
- That’s gonna sting, but it could have been so much worse. (Better put some ice on it.)
- Finally, this is lazy-ass propaganda disguised as reporting. “Melson says 90 percent of the guns that Mexican authorities have seized from cartels and other criminals and given to U.S. officials to trace have come from the United States.” Which is actually 17 percent of all guns seized in Mexico. (Also, note the irony: the myth busting facts are on the Fox News site, while the agenda cooked stats come from an AP story on the Fox 4 Dallas site.)
Something I learned at a panel discussion with Craig Watkins a few months ago, that needs the attention of one of our U.S. Representatives (I don’t think this is a state issue, as far as I can tell), is the fact that even if we increase the lump sum payment to those exonerated, that payment will be considered a windfall, and will be taxed at a rate of 30 percent.
Which means we hand it to them, and then we tell them they have to give us back a bunch of it. Which is pretty friggin insulting.
A crackdown on payday loans isn’t going to send those who use them to the bank to open a line of credit. It’s going to send them to Guido who doesn’t deal so much in collateral and doesn’t understand “write off” – at least not when it comes to the books…
You don’t get it, Rachel. Completely open, unfettered capitalism is the only way this country will succeed. Regulation leads to financial ruin!
So you’re for this proposed regulation, even though the evidence shows it will hurt the very people it considers victims, towski?
And why is it you think people aren’t capable of making their own decisions and need some pandering politician — Jerry Allen is such a great local example along with John Wiley Price, or Gov. Coiffure at the state level, or even Trent Lott or Barney Frank at the national level — to do it for them? You want these types making financial decisions — or any other kind of decisions — for free adults?
Ummm, yeah, unfettered capitalism was the downfall of Hong Kong. I’m sure that’s why the Chinese government changed so little when it took Hong Kong back over from the British.
It’s utterly amazing that people actually believe that a group of politicians who can’t balance their own books and have personal credit histories that are worse than the average American can actually make sound financial decisions for the rest of us.
I went back and looked at my notes from the panel discussion with Craig Watkins. They’re taxed at 40%, not 30. Sorry!
@ towski: I must have missed something. You’re right. I don’t get it, but “IT” is your response to my post.
If your response was facetious, then I get that you assume a disagreement exists between us and that the disagreement is a function of some misunderstanding or lack of knowledge on my part.
I’m relatively new to Trey’s blog, so I’m not familiar with your opinions or comment style, so if you’d like me to “get” something, please be sure to tell me what it is.
Maybe these investors will help solve the payday loan problem.
I hardly consider an editorial piece that happens to agree with you “all the evidence”, Trey…
As for Rachel, yes, I was being facetious. I have the temerity to actually disagree with Trey about his least common denominator, sound bite style of looking at society.
Apparently, since I don’t share the contempt of faux-libertarians for all aspects of government, I am both stupid and naive.
Another side of the conpensation for wrongful convictions: what about those falsely accused? namely, the teachers like my friend, recently acquitted of ‘improper touching’ of an 11 yr. old student who was angry that he yelled at her when he found her stalking him, hiding in his bushes at home, under his desk at school. This man had to wait, unemployeed with 2 kids and wife at home, waiting for his day in court. While paying a defense attorney. The girl basically recanted…she’s 15 now. Seems he mother pressured her after reading the gir’s diary fantasies. Meanwhile, he cannot get his teacher’s certification back. And the girl is not held accountable in any form. Nor her mother who did a Perry Mason breakdown admission on the stand.
How is it possible that the kids-or too, my plumber’s teenage step-daughter who ‘gets even with’ her step-father by falsely fingering him as an incest ‘pervert’ …get off scot free? It’s like ” So I was mad’. So I ruined your life? Get over it! Move on! “
Another side of the conpensation for wrongful convictions: what about those falsely accused?
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Sounds like a ready made way to turn a classic car insurance scam into a government one.