Please Meet ….
Texas State Senator Don Huffines (whose name SpellCheck ironically keeps insisting is Huffiness).
Huffines represents the Dallas area. Some Texas high school students from his district came to visit him at the capitol. They were rightly concerned about “school choice” that Huffines supports like it was his own idea.
They asked how it could be fair when it wasn’t enough money for low income families to pay for private school? Huffines huffed up and lectured them thusly:
“Do you want me to give them $15,000? Is that what you want? So they can all go to Hockaday, so they can all go to St. Mark’s?” Huffines asked, referring to two expensive private schools in Dallas. “You want to give them a full tuition? That is the most selfish thing I’ve ever heard.”
Them? We can’t let all of “them” go to Hockaday or St. Mark’s. “Them” can’t have full tuition because that would be selfish of “them.” But, by gawd, it is not selfish of the fine upstanding rich kids at St. Mark’s or Hockaday to exercise their right to be rich. After all, they earned that by choosing to be born in the right family. If you wanted to go to St. Marks, you should have picked better parents, but you didn’t. Shame on you for being selfish like that.
When the students suggested that the money to fund school choice come from the citizenry, Huffines corrected them. Nope, he says, “62% of all property taxes come from businesses.” Well, there you go – a justification for business to make a profit off of school children.
You don’t believe me about all this, do ya? Well, here’s the best two minutes you’ll spend today watch raw unadulterated Republican greed.
There is, however, an upside to all this – it seems his district is raining some informed voters and – ta da! – His district was carried by Hillary Clinton last November. He knows his days are numbered.
He later apologized for the tone of his remarks but not the facts.
Hey Huffines – those kids and their public school educations are coming after you and you ain’t got a chance.
Thanks to everybody for the heads up.
God bless those courageous kids for standing up to him.
1Those kids have a lot more going for them than this jackass does. He owns big car dealerships in his district. I’d advise Metroplex area residents to shop elsewhere for their vehicles.
2One of the great lines from the movie “Auntie Mame” for me is “An Aryan from Darian with braces on her brains.” That perfectly paints this clown. “62% of all property taxes come from businesses.” And just where do you think they get that money, Skippy? From, like, maybe their customers? And it’s FACT that school vouchers without income caps benefit only the well off. Another freebie for the rich. This, apparently, is beyond the cognitive skills of Mr. Huffy. Or is it? Methinks he knows exactly who this will benefit and expects to be “thanked” in an appropriately monetary way in the future.
3Disclaimer:
I have known the Huffines family all my life, went to HS with the older brother etc. Even bought some motor cars from their dealerships.
I dont know if the first Huffines who opened the first dealership in Lewisville was rich before, but that dealership has made a $hitload of money since the 1930s. Each dealership opened has in turn made a $hitload of money. Don is the third generation of wealth and privilege. He and his siblings are raising a fourth and maybe there’s a fifth generation of wealth and privilege.
This just exemplifies why government by the wealthy privileged classes so does not work.
4Huffines’ statements parrot those of little Danny Patrick who has found a way to return to segregation by calling it something else. School choice (including church school) on the back of the taxpayer is the racists’ and religious zealots’ dream solution.
When I was a kid it was called “separate-but-equal.”
5Y’know, I try to be an optimist. I want to believe we have a free and independent press. But I just came from CNN, and now I wonder. They did a “fact check” on #45’s speech and rated most of the statements they analyzed as “True but misleading”.
Excuse me? Something can be “true” and “misleading” at the same time? Wow. I know the English language is constantly changing and evolving but this is a new one on me. Guess I’ll just have to throw CNN into the pile of “misleading” news orgs like FOX.
6This issue is playing out in San Antonio right now.
Lots of recent local news about one of the poorest southside school districts getting ready to close some schools, ostensibly because of loss of pupil headcount to charter schools. The district is South San (and others in the same fix).
Now South San and Edgewood ISD’s have been nests of corruption like forever, but lots of parents are quite upset and mad over having their kids jerked around.
“School Choice”, vouchers, subsidized charter schools are all just ways of destroying public schools, and other things (like enriching those connected ones.
(and I say this as one whose entire first 14 years (except kindergarten) were spent in private school, and some of my kid’s too, for a time, at an elite St. Marks equivalent)
7So in our final annual goodbye to Black History Month we learn again that “Separate but Equal” always meant “Separate.”
8No, you overprivileged goober, I do not want you to shell out enough money for all students to go to ritzy private and probably religious schools. I want you to use the tax money to improve the public schools for ALL students, not just the ones lucky enough to be well off or get vouchers. Can you GOoPers get that into your thick snotty skulls or do I have to pound harder?
Did not watch video as I don’t need to see a jackass throwing a hissy fit at decent kids.
9Perhaps Democrats should keep explaining WHY Public Education and policies are essential and extremely BENEFICIAL to a Civil Society. Just saying.
10As a former teacher I would like to see a follow up on those brave kids. How were they treated when the returned to their homes and schools?
11I’ve always said the best thing you can do for a long happy life is to be sure to pick the right parents before birth!
12Same old question – how can so many short sighted people vote for this guy?
13Same old question – how can so many short sighted people vote for this guy?
14Car dealers size up a customer the moment they walk in the door, a tactic Don Huffines seems to have carried over to his position as State Senator.
High school kids? No sense wasting valuable time representing the people of his district on the kids of people in his district.
Children may be our future, but mainly the children of parents who can afford St. Mark’s or Hockaday.
15This Don and Donnie’s Betsy need to meet this educator, who in a short video describes the ‘average day’ in the responsibilities of a public school: http://theshrug.com/plane-passenger-asked-a-teacher-a-rude-question-about-her-job-her-response-is-perfect/
Suggestion to those living in Don’s area; send him the video. We’re passing it along to our Congress varmints and Donnie’s Betsy.
16Wow! Those kids are awesome. He certainly ACTS LIKE he sells cars, and is excellent in diversion. Boycott !!!
17I heard on NPR today that 20 states have some form of this law which applies to religious and non-religious private schools.
18The NH Legislature has enacted a law that allows a business organization and business enterprise to make a money donation (up to $400,000 in the first year of the program) to an approved scholarship organization(s) for which the business organization or business enterprise will receive a tax credit against the Business Profits Tax and/or Business Enterprise Tax for 85% of their donation. The donations are used by an approved scholarship organization(s) to grant scholarships for children to attend private schools. The new Education Tax Credit Program is scheduled to begin January 1, 2013.
I understand Huffy was verbally beaten up by a 7th grade girl who knew her stuff. I’d heard he called it an *ambush*.
Bless his heart.
19Jane & PKM, that seals it. I’m in love with Ms. Garcia. Smart, funny and attractive all in one package. She could certainly school His Huffiness.
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