10/21/8  It's all going to hell.

Have you picked up on a pattern in our town and/or county and/or school district?  If you haven't, why are you bothering to read DallasArena.com?

We'll do the city another time because it's been a mess so long, that almost anything to be said would be redundant. 

We have an election coming up that has divided my little neighborhood almost as much as the nation. 

We have a Sheriff's race between a proven incompetent and a proven police commander.  In a rational world, there would be no contest.  Chief Lowell Cannaday has been endorsed by almost all of the police and sheriff's associations in this county.  Part of their endorsement is an anti-Lupe sentiment.  More if not most of their endorsement is because they know, admire and trust Lowell Cannaday to turn things around in the Sheriff's Department, including the jail.

A liberal friend of mine was not going to vote for Lupe a few months ago.  Now, he's making excuses and will justify voting for an incompetent because she's trying "to do good".  It doesn't matter that she's had almost 4 years "to do good".  Will someone explain to me why intentions count for more than results and ability?  And when did wishful thinking equate to results?

It's like the people who defend our Bail Bondsman DA.  The guy has violated all kinds of rules for elected District Attorneys that prohibit their practicing private law.  He operates a business that requires a lawyer's oversight, but his elected position as Dallas County DA prohibits him from doing so.  Watkins' Private Business Presents Possible Conflict  (By Paul Adrian & Joe Ellis, FOX4 News, MyFoxDFW.com, 7/11/08). 

Craig Watkins was elected to be the County District Attorney, the County Prosecutor.  He was not elected to be the County Public Defender.  It gags me when I hear anyone justify the DA's lack of ethics with the "good" he's doing for allegedly wrongly convicted criminals.  Like justifying a bank robber's action because he mows his neighbor's yard.  No relationship whatsoever, but who cares?  It's not compassionate to be logical.

The DISD is a complete insane asylum.  I have called for Dr. Hinojosa's ouster for over a year -- way before his people lost $84 million dollars.  The way he handled the P-Card debacle was enough to send him packing.  He surrounds himself with people who say what he wants to hear, and he tells the School Board what they want to hear.  Dr. H tried to dump the P-card mess on the back of a woman who did not have the authority to do what she was blamed with. 

Now, through no fault of their own, hundreds of teachers are unemployed in the middle of the school term.  They were hired, and no one accounted for the expense of their employment.  I have no idea what the DISD requires of its accounting personnel regarding their education or experience. but the results paint a dismal picture.  For all we know, the entire crew can be promoted teachers who worked their way up the food chain, like Dr. H. 

Do you remember how Dr. H excused himself from culpability in the $84 million shortfall?  His people didn't give him financial reports in a format he could understand.  An ex-teacher making over $300K annually cannot decipher an $84 million shortfall in the financial records his staff has furnished to him.  But, who cares?

We have fired over 350 teachers, so I guess we didn't need them.   But tell me this -- why do we need new schools if we didn't need those teachers?  If we do build new schools with the bond money that stupid voters approved last Spring, who will teach in them?  Who cooks the lunches in the new schools?  Who cleans and maintains the facilities?

We are firing math and science teachers when we have been told we must improve our children's math and science abilities.  We are not firing any bilingual education teachers.  Isn't that great?  Our kids might be able to speak 2 languages, but they can't add or subtract and likely won't be able to get a job when or if they graduate from high school.

I told you back before the bond election that it was not about educating our kids.  The bond election was about creating construction jobs for some connected companies who make millions on DISD projects.  Now, Dr. H and this horrible school board who let him do what he's done intend to go forward with selling bonds to build new schools that we can't afford to staff.

Dr. H's logic doesn't add up for me.  I make a living managing my boss's law firm and accounting for his money.  Then again, I'm working with real money, my boss's money.  Dr. H and the school board don't recognize taxpayer dollars as real money.  If I let our firm's money get wasted, there would be consequences.  Dr. H lets $84 million get lost, and the only ones who get punished are teachers and support staff who had nothing to do with the mistake.  But, who cares?

I've been trying to make sense of all this chaos for weeks.  I've started so many commentaries that didn't get finished.  What's the point?

When you go to vote in the next couple of weeks, please don't vote with your heart.  Vote with your head.  Ask yourself when you vote if you want that person in charge of your family's finances.  All elected officials have control over our money.  Ask yourself when you vote if you want that person in charge of your family's safety. 

Or, are you just a blithering idiot who hopes an incompetent will develop some managerial skills if you give her another shot at wasting our tax dollars?

sb