Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\nYet both are extremely popular and are leading in the polls for their respective parties. Why? <\/p>\n
Why can\u2019t political parties nominate candidates who are intelligent, of good character and willing to compromise \u2014 as governing in a representative republic requires? Good grief! <\/p>\n
Steven Smith, Denton<\/p>\n
No taxes means no services<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cPatrick wants more seniors \u2014 His plan would lower age requirement from 65 to 55 for the highest benefit,” Thursday news story.<\/p>\n
To me, no taxes means no services, no schools, no roads, no support for our folks needing food, shelter or health care.<\/p>\n
And if our governor and lieutenant governor have their way, that will be the result. I suspect eventually it will mean not much government at all but just enough left to pay their salaries, benefits and visits to Washington.<\/p>\n
We are close now. They have what they need so the rest of the state of Texas, well, figure it out on your own. Fix your own roads, educate your own child, clean your own air and hope for the best. No taxes mean no services. <\/p>\n
Georgi Roberts, Fort Worth<\/p>\n
Follow money taken from colleges<\/p>\n
I was saddened to see that another university had caved to the president\u2019s extortion scheme. He has withheld currently budgeted federal funding because of students\u2019 First-Amendment protests supporting starving Palestinians (who are themselves victims of a terrorist organization in their country), by claiming the universities are promoting antisemitism.<\/p>\n
Northwestern University has paid the federal government $75 million, Columbia paid $200 million, Cornell settled for $60 million and Brown settled for $50 million, all likely from endowments and reducing much-needed scholarships.<\/p>\n
Then I had a positive thought. At least those payments can be used to pay down our country\u2019s outstanding $38 trillion debt. Then I laughed at myself for thinking that, but it still leaves the question in my mind. Where are all these fines and federal spending-cuts savings going? Who keeps track of that?<\/p>\n
Julia Pendery, Plano<\/p>\n
Public transportation is key<\/p>\n
Re: \u201cBalance key to mapping future \u2014 North Texas mobility planner says area growth calls for new directions,” Dec. 1 Metro story.<\/p>\n
This headline says, \u201cNorth Texas mobility planner says area growth calls for new directions.\u201d However, his answers focused only on roads and highways supporting the movement of cars and trucks. The metroplex is already choking with the number of vehicles on its roads. Building highways farther and farther from the centers of the major cities of Dallas-Fort Worth and widening the existing major highways and toll roads does nothing to relieve congestion and street wear. <\/p>\n
The last sentence mentioned high-speed rail, which is only an intercity solution. Why did the story not discuss a transit system within the area itself? All the great cities of the world \u2014 New York, London, Paris, Toronto, etc. \u2014 have public transit systems that carry thousands a day without congestion and frustration.<\/p>\n
Currently several area cities are discussing pulling out of DART. This is crazy and so shortsighted. Efforts, and many of the funds mentioned in the story, should be directed to improving the existing system of bus and train, with plans to expand the rail system to include cross connections east-west to link to downtown. Sustainable growth needs public transportation.<\/p>\n
Fran Powell, Addison<\/p>\n
Looking for a Dallas leader<\/p>\n
Our city of Dallas is facing several major challenges that will affect the city\u2019s future, including finances, attractions and culture. These include what to do with the I.M. Pei City Hall building, potential decrease in DART revenue from suburbs voting to withdraw from the system and the potential of the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars leaving the city entirely or the downtown\/Victory Park area. <\/p>\n
Overcoming these obstacles will require real strategic leadership. Will we see a true leader emerge?<\/p>\n
Steve Watson, Dallas\/Preston Hollow<\/p>\n
Triggering a chigger memory <\/p>\n
Re: \u201cA little bit of Texas frightens me \u2014 On a friend\u2019s ranch, I learned you have so many reasons to wear boots,” Dec. 6 Opinion.<\/p>\n
This brought back a memory from my freshman year at Southern Methodist University in 1971. I arrived on campus fresh off the beach in Long Beach, Calif., with frisbee in hand. After unpacking my dorm room, I ventured out to the quad to find someone to toss my frisbee with. I didn\u2019t realize that not everyone was a fan. <\/p>\n
With that, I lay down in the grass under a tree. You can guess what happened next. I had something called chigger bites all over me. I had no clue, but fortunately my roommate was from Houston and she was able to help. <\/p>\n
I can honestly say that in all the years since, I have not spent anytime lounging in any grassy areas in Texas.<\/p>\n
Thanks for the smile and memory \u2014 and life lesson, Mr. de Vinck. <\/p>\n
Perri Brackett, Lewisville<\/p>\n
Thanks to columnists<\/p>\n
Please pass along my thanks to Glenn Rogers, Ryan Sanders, Robert Jordan, Abby McCloskey and Tyra Damm. I appreciate all of their commentary on current affairs. They offer very practical and reasoned points of view. They give us a truthful perspective on matters that are often difficult to fully understand.<\/p>\n
I often read every piece in the Opinion section, which I admit I don\u2019t do for other sections.<\/p>\n
Stephen Graham, Frisco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senate candidates \u2014 good grief Re: \u201cCrockett jumps in race \u2014 Filing to run for Senate seat shakes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10448,2261,288,289,2639,287,27,29,28,272,840],"class_list":{"0":"post-85302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-autos","9":"tag-dart","10":"tag-elections","11":"tag-higher-education","12":"tag-letters-to-the-editor","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-texas-headlines","16":"tag-texas-news","17":"tag-traffic","18":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}