I will NOT "tip jar" Texas state parks

Ever since the 2011 Texas Legislature slashed the hell out of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's budget, a number of well meaning environmentalist types have pushed — and pushed heavy at times — the idea of customer donations helping make up the shortfall.

Well, with talk of no budget increase this biennium and possible closures (of up to 20 parks), I'm sure this idea will get a new round of traction.

But not from me.

If anything, it will get more talk in opposition.

To be blunt, all you well-meaning folks, you're enabling bad behavior.

Per the story, we know that even before the budget cuts of two years ago, the Lege continually refused to dedicate all the funds from the state sporting goods sales tax to TP&W.

Per the story, with my emphasis:

This is nothing new. For the previous two-year budget cycle, this so-called dedicated fund was projected to generate $236 million. In the end, the amount that remained for parks was a dismal $52.1 million, leaving the state with a falsely-created balanced budget and TPW officials begging for cash.

See? The Republicans in the Lege have been doing this ... well, basically since they took control of the Lege. Even with no overall expansion in spending, if the "Solons" in Austin gave TP&W the other $184 million, we not only would not have to worry about closing any parks, we could address a backlog of maintenance, etc.

Instead, the "tip jar" idea rewards the libertarian and privatization ideas of many in the Texas GOP.

(Beyond that, because this problem is nothing new, you're tip jarring parks that have that backlog of maintenance, etc., and therefore aren't always fully up to snuff.)

Don't do it.

If parks have to close, so be it. Maybe the Republicans in your state House or Senate district will vote out THEIR bastard next election time, and not ask for others to vote out other bastards.

Beyond that, this is a state that, even with money woes accounted for decades or a century-plus ago, sold off too much of its public land, lied to the feds and therefore blocked a Palo Duro Canyon National Park that would have stretched all the way to today's Caprock Canyons State Park, refused to cooperate with the feds and gave us a Davis Mountains State Park instead of a third national park in West Texas and more.

And, that's part of what hacks me. Having been to Big Bend many a time, and Guadalupe Mountains National Park more than once, I know what a real park, a third West Texas national park, could be like in the Davis Mountains, rather than the state's postage stamp piece of land. Ditto for what Palo Duro really could have been.

Tip-jarring would arguably reward decades of bad behavior, not just a few years. (Don't forget Jerry Patterson turning down land donations because of his gun nuttery, too.)

More on the state of state parks, and what TP&W wants in the new budget, is here. Given the Texas Senate's preliminary budget, you ain't gonna get it.

Feb. 7: Latest news on budget discussions here. Yeah, we'll see if Tommy Williams means it; he's kind of a wingnut.

June 6, 2013: Alleged racism at TPWD doesn't help.

Prrivate health care sux, as does privatization in general

How else to put it? The NYT has a damned good take on it, starting with for-profit nursing homes doping up people a lot more than nonprofit ones.

And, the piece gets worse, from there. Like this:

We let the private sector handle tasks other countries would never dream of moving outside the government’s purview. Consider bail bondsmen and their rugged sidekicks, the bounty hunters.

American TV audiences may reminisce fondly about Lee Majors in “The Fall Guy” chasing bad guys in a souped-up GMC truck — a cheap way to get felons to court. People in most other nations see them as an undue commercial intrusion into the criminal justice system that discriminates against the poor. 

The author notes it's part of the bullshit rugged individualist myth. 

That's the myth that sees under-50 Americans with the worst lifespan in any of 17 developed nations.

And a neoliberal president, with a "national health care" plan reliant on the private sector, with a Catfood Commission that could well push more privatization in other areas?

He doesn't care. Or at least gives no public indication of that.

Obamacare has no cost controls. It established no federal bureau for insurance regulation. Government PSAs for preventative health? When have you seen one?

GOP wants to privatize Medicare

The LA Times story's headline doesn't tell you that. But, the body of the story does, loud and clear:

The proposal would rework Medicare by offering seniors a menu of private plans and restructure Medicaid funding into block grants distributed to the states.

True, it wouldn't apply to current recipients. And why not?

If privatization is so good, why not start it immediately?

You know the answer to that rhetorical question.

Because it would greatly hurt seniors. And, we can't have today's seniors voting on their pain.

And, David Brooks (surprise!) seems to have read a different story on Ryan's plans. All that's missing from the column is two under-55 Boboes and a line on Pop Ev Psych.

Privatizing human services work backfires on states

Indiana is cited as the primary example for how privatizing delivery of services such as food stamps and Medicaid can go wrong, but other states also get mention.

Toll roads? Traffic doesn’t change much, and certainly isn’t likely to ramp up, in a recession.

Food stamps? Different story. And, I bet that in the Indiana case, IBM once again assumed that Alan Greenspan and his magic bubbles had permanently banished recessions.

Apparently, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa didn’t read the WSJ story; he wants to open LA schools to privatization bids.

BushCo privatization watch – private toll roads

The attempt to privatize our nation’s highways is drawing increasing opposition from the trucking industry and Republican Congressmen, clear signs that this is a no-go in the long-term.

“They have a myopic view,” said Rep. John L. Mica (Fla.), ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Pricing transportation to drive down traffic may make market sense, but it harms the public, he said. “This was a country based on some system of equality. People are paying their taxes and have representation. You can’t exclude them from having a fair return.”

Department of Transportation officials defend throwing dollars at studying more congestion pricing on toll roads and other things as getting away from “pork-barrel politics.”

Wrong. While old-style transportation politics may be pork-barrel, from Alaska Rep. Don Young’s “bridge to nowhere” to Pennsyvania Rep. John Murtha’s pork wallowing, that doesn’t mean the new system isn’t that, either.

Rather, it’s just a different set of hogs at the trough.

Another dumb BushCo privatizing idea – nuke waste

Do you really want nuclear waste privatized? I didn’t think so.

A power point briefing prepared for lawmakers by Dennis R. Spurgeon, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for nuclear energy, includes a slide showing a “non-governmental entity” that would manage nuclear waste disposal and fees from nuclear utilities in concert with a still undeveloped recycling program supported by the Bush administration.

Basically, it’s an attempt to gin up private-sector support and money for Yucca Mountain and do an end run around its top political opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Well, no way in hell it’s going to work to do anything but piss off Harry Reid.

But, that’s the political brilliance of our current administration.