Archive for April, 2010

Okay, NOW They Have Hacked Me Off

April 07, 2010 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

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Juanita is white hot mad. She’s all horns and rattles this morning.

She read some of the local real blogs last night.  Bad mistake.

There’s a mess bigger than a basket of wire coat hangers at the Fort Bend Independent School District and  the local damn fools are blaming “the liberals,” and the “liberal education take-over,” and one guy even said that you can expect this kind of thing when you elect a socialist President.

“Caca del toro,” Juanita shouts this morning when telling us about it.

“Just for fun, I looked up the voting record of our school board members.  There are 7 school board members.  Six of them are what we call triple R Republicans.  Hard core kiddos who vote in every Republican primary, some of them for as long as record keeping goes back,” Juanita announces.

“One of them – Daniel Menendez, voted in Republican primaries consistently until 2010.  He voted Democratic this election.  Hell, he even voted in the Republican primary when Barack Obama was on the ballot  and it mattered.”

“Heckfire,” she continues, “even the Superintendent is a Republican.  He’s voted in Republican primaries since he got here.”

“I ain’t listening to them try to blame Democrats for the mess that Republicans made,” she stomps.

“However,” she says with a sly grin, “I do have some news about the mess that Democrats made.  Well, it’s not really a mess.  In fact, you might refer to it as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

“The only – I repeat, ONLY – Democratic Mayor in Fort Bend County, Leonard Scarcella, my friend and the smartest guy I know, had a little announcement this week ——

While a lot of cities and other public sector governmental agencies are dealing with budget issues or shortfalls, Stafford not only is debt free, it even has a budget surplus in spite of sales tax revenue being down 20 percent.  “We resisted strongly with regard to debt,” he said speaking about projects such as roads improvements and many other things that cities typically borrow from cash reserves to accomplish.  “We want to make sure to use the money we receive not to pay interest and escrow payments related to bonds, which can be quite sizeable, but have all the money to pay,” for necessary projects.

“So, the city of Stafford has a budget surplus, and even built the outstanding Stafford Centre to bring extra class and culture to their city, and their leader is a hard core, liberal, yellow dog Democrat.  And let me rub this in a little harder to really make the GOP seethe – Stafford has no property taxes.  None.  Zero.  I am not kidding,” Juanita says.

“And,” she recalls with a smile the size of Vermont, “I do recall that Leonard Scarcella pulled his city out of your school district and founded they only municipal school district in Texas in 1977 because he was sick, sick, sick of your big spending ways that didn’t benefit his minority kids.”

“Not only is his city doing fine, so is his school district.” Juanita sticks a needle in a another Republican balloon.  It’s her job.

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Big Tough Guy. Woo Woo

April 06, 2010 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

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“Wee Winkie Call,” Thelma announces, giving Juanita a high five as she struts by the front desk, pointing at something Juanita needs to read on the internet machine.

Charles Alan Wilson of Selah, Washington, is this week’s winner of the Wee Winkie Contest.

The Wee Winkie Contest was invented by Juanita many years ago when rewarding local county commissioners for their need to have their seats in the commissioner court room site exactly three inches higher than everybody else.  She still contends that they came up with that number while sitting around playing with rulers in their laps.

The award has come to be given to men who feel the need to drive pick-ups with enormous tires on them, talk loudly about how very cool they are, or display other behavior indicating that they might not be as big as they want to seem to be, if you know what I mean and you do because you wouldn’t have read this far if you didn’t.

Charles Alan Wilson got his wee Winkie Award for calling Senator Patty Murray’s office and talking nasty and then talking violent.

An FBI agent’s probable cause statement says Murray’s office in Seattle reported the threats, which were left on voice mail from a blocked telephone number. Agents say they traced the calls to Wilson’s home in Selah, near Yakima.

Murray’s office told the FBI it had been receiving harassing messages from the caller for months, but they became more threatening as Congress was voting on health care legislation.

Excerpts of the expletive-laced messages transcribed in court documents show the caller saying he wanted to kill the senator, and it would just take one piece of lead.

“Woo, woo, real big man,” everyone in the shop said in unison.

“Now, I know that Rush Limbaugh is going to defend this guy,” Juanita says, “and that’s just because Rush is in the Wee Winkie Hall of Fame.  We retired his number.  It, of course,was two.”

Verdelia loves that and thinks it’s funny.  Buck Pochek, two time winner last year alone, does not.

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One day when I’m Real Bored ….

April 06, 2010 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

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…. I’m going to go to the courthouse and get arrested.

No, I will NOT keep my head still the whole time I’m in a courtroom.  I need to breathe.  Plus, I often like to check behind me. I swear to Betty Above that you cannot make me keep my head still in a courtroom.  I will most certainly be arrested for looking at a bailiff and saying, “Make me, Honey.”

Plus, I’ve broken at least three of Judge Vacek’s rules on any given day.  And, I plan on breaking more as soon as I find time.

These guys have gotten so cocky and arrogant that it’s time to replace them all. They look upon the public with disdain and distaste,  and I will get myself arrested one day for reminding them that they are here to serve the public.

Congrats and thanks to Bev Carter for kicking up some dust.

Like a Herd of Mules in a Hailstorm

April 06, 2010 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

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Fort Bend ISD laid off 93 more teachers this week because of budget shortfalls, most of them special education teachers, but is spending money seeking new teachers?

The Fort Bend Independent School District is hiring.

As more and more teachers are getting layoff notification letters from the district’s human resources department, the district is still scouting for dozens of teachers from other countries to teach elementary pupils.

Wanted: international teachers

The district is recruiting international teachers to start teaching here for three years starting June 15. The annual compensation is $47,300.

The district hired Foster Quan, LLP, a Houston immigration law firm, to help applicants to acquire H-1B nonimmigrant visa, which would allow them to work in America legally without getting the Green Card, or to acquire Permanent Alien Labor Certification.

“Okay, I’m not saying that foreign teachers can’t add to a child’s educational experience,” Juanita starts.  “but when you set up some goofy artificial rating system for teachers that looks like Chinese algebra except less understandable and then use that to lay them off, something ain’t right. If you can’t pay the ones you’ve got, how are you going to pay for new ones?”

“I think they’re outsourcing public education,”   Thelma jumps in.  “Heck, Hon, it worked for WalMart.”

“I guess what bothers me is that we’re paying lawyers to help us get overseas teachers while we’re laying off local teachers who are going to hire lawyers  so the district will have to hire more lawyers to fight the teacher’s lawyers and …. Honey, it’s lawyerpolooza with little children’s education money,” Juanita says with disgust.

“LawyerMart, for sure,” Thelma nods.

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Diddle Squat. That’s What.

April 05, 2010 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized

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Juanita wants locals to remember the heady days of sending a dozen roses to the hotel room of Superintendent interviewees the day before they left town.  Or, the swanky school board retreats with taxpayer money spent on Mimosas.  Or even talk of a science center.

FBISD is broken.

The Fort Bend Independent School District will notify this week 93 certified special education teachers and administrators that their contracts will not be renewed for the 2010-2011 school year.

The non-renewals are in addition to the 85 certified regular education teachers who were notified by letter of the non-renewal last week.

The letters are the inevitable outcome of the district declaring a “financial exigency” as a result of a possible $20 million deficit for the 2010-2011 school year – the fourth budget deficit in a row.

“The folks on the  FBISD school board called themselves conservatives.  Like George Bush, they spent and spent and spent and wasted every dollar they could. I demanded a halt to the big spending fifteen years ago.  For my efforts I was called names, mainly by administrators and real estate agents,” she recalls.  “We built schools for developers, not children.”

“I told you people not to listen to the EDC Boys and the Chamber of Commerce, but nooooo…..” she says in that real sarcastic voice of hers.  “You listened to the people who were getting rich off your big spending.  And now what do you have?  Diddle squat.  That’s what.”

A Dozen Donut Holes

April 05, 2010 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Goat Rodeos

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“They say there’s 12 of them now,” Juanita announces while making coffee this morning.  “I’ll put up our one against all 12 of theirs.”

She’s talking about the 12 GOP Presidential hopefuls meeting in New Orleans.

“And why would they pick New Orleans?  To remind us of what a gosh-awful job they did there?  To visit some bawdy houses?  To get drunk and nakkid?” Juanita thinks they are up to no good.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, Republicans dedicated hours of the event to promising to “kill” the health care bill. Now that it’s passed and Democrats are enjoying an uptick in popularity, it’s going to be time to refocus on a new line of attack. It’s also possible there will be either a refinement of the “repeal” message, or that that conference will showcase Republican divisions on the topic.

“I personally think the Republican lovefest in New Orleans is being fueled by a big burst of damned if I know,” Juanita suggests.

“One other thing,” Juanita grins, “don’t they know that fluffy rich white boys are scarce in new Orleans?  I think they are parachuting into a live volcano.”

I imagine we’ll get Aunt Wanda Lynn to get a ringside seat for this thing,” she promises, “and she’ll let us know which of these perfectly silly fools takes the cake.”