Red-light cameras; rape culture; local decisions

Red-light cameras

I literally cannot take my car onto Fort Worth’s streets without observing some sociopath blow through a red-light with no regard for the safety of others. Every single time.

In the late 1960’s, while stationed in Berlin, Germany, I observed my first red light cameras. I said to myself, “self, why don’t we have these stateside?”

It took a lot of time for us to catch up, but we finally did.

Now, a bunch of scofflaws who cannot control themselves or their vehicles want to foist laws on all of us so that there will be less chance of their being held to account for their behavior.

As is so often the case these days, the phony argument they present is that this is in the name of “freedom.”

Well, folks, we live in social groups, and we must balance freedom with responsible behavior. Personally, I’d like to be free of having some jerk plow into the side of my vehicle at an intersection.

Red-light cameras are a reasonable aide in combating a very real lack of responsible behavior on the part of some drivers. I’d like to see a lot more of them, not fewer.

Rape culture

I am one of a multitude of women who are fed up with the wink, wink, nod, nod attitude of our overly macho culture, which accepts rape as a normal and unfixable behavior of men in this nation. (“Baylor scandal sparks bipartisan effort to stop sexual assaults,” Tuesday)

Our universities, supposedly centers of wisdom and education, harbor leaders such as Ken Starr, who was ousted from the Baylor presidency for hiding brutal rapes committed by university football players.

Who feels safe now sending young girls to the unprotected life at the University of Texas — or to any school, for that matter? When will the protection of female students become as important as the reputation of a football team?

Local decisions

We Texans need to wise up to the three-headed monster in Austin.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton are doing everything they can to deny us freedom to pray where we want and use the bathroom that fits who we are.

They are robbing the coffers of public schools to subsidize the rich.

They are sticking their noses into local decisions that provide places where dreamers can be safe in the light of day.

They push for laws that allow energy companies to expand drilling operations into local jurisdictions that are opposed to them because they pose devastating risks to water supplies. The governor recently said the state needs carte blanche to override local jurisdictions in all matters.

Two years ago, Abbott appointed Kelcy Warren to the Parks and Wildlife commission. He has no credentials, but he contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Abbott’s PAC.

He happens to be the chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, which is ramming a pipeline down the throats of indigenous people in North Dakota and another near the pristine Big Bend National Park in Texas.

As Abbott is trying on his crown, we need to say, “Enough is enough!”

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Red-light cameras; rape culture; local decisions."