Texas red; orchestra strike; special ed; for Gary Johnson

Texas red

Richard Greene (Sept. 18 column) says Texas will be “redder than ever” citing “the liberal party’s decision to put Planned Parenthood’s president out front” as the deal killer for Democrats, but ignoring the effect gerrymandering and voter disenfranchisement has on Texas’s red state status.

While heralding how Texas protects the unborn, Greene ignores the effects of red state governance in that the children that are born in red states are statistically more likely to be uninsured, impoverished and suffer a lower quality of education in an underfunded public school system.

Texans will continue to be represented by corporate lobbyists who have always given preference to their industrial benefactors in the form of tax breaks and weakened regulations. The shortfall in revenues will continue to be paid for by cutting health, education and welfare programs that impact the lives of the children Greene implies he holds so dear.

Orchestra strike

How disappointing to learn of further concerts canceled by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association. I have requested a refund of the amount of my unusable ticket(s) so that I can donate the money to the Save Our Symphony campaign.

We are grieving over the lack of vision and initiative on the part of the symphony association, which has resulted in this impasse. I am a long-term subscriber who remembers the bad old days when we had to have the Dallas Symphony come to Fort Worth to play concerts.

We implore the association to get their act together and deal fairly with the fine musicians who have already sacrificed more than is fair in order to keep this historic and essential organization in operation and in our city.

Why doesn’t the Fort Worth City Council take the 2-cent reduction in taxes that are proposed and give this money to the symphony and to the arts community?

It would seem like a significant statement of their desire to keep the members of our great orchestra in income support with other cities.

Sometimes we need to remember the people who give us art and music and give back to them.

Special ed

Texas is dead last among all 50 states in percentage of students in special education, according the Houston Chronicle.

The TEA has established an 8.5 percent benchmark limit, which violates federal standards requiring services to all eligible children with any type of disability. The benchmark has led to systemic denial of service to tens of thousands of families, according to the Chronicle.

All Texans should be ashamed of this.

Texans regularly elect people who are against public education. This election, let’s put people in office who support public education and remove those who don’t.

For candidate

I support Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson for president of the United States. Instead of voting against I candidate, I know that I can vote for Gary Johnson.

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Texas red; orchestra strike; special ed; for Gary Johnson."