The number of children living in state schools for the disabled has grown by 80 percent in the last five years, a trend advocates say threatens decades of work to move Texas’ most fragile youths back into family homes.

It’s the result of hopelessly long waiting lists for services at home. Of school districts unable to serve a growing number of autistic students. And of communities too quick to turn youths with mental illness over to the courts.

Yes, those are the causes, among likely others. What are the effects? Check this:

Recent news that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Denton State School – the second federal inquiry into a state school in two years – is fueling the fire for those who think state institutions are no place for juveniles.

And while state officials say they only house these youths until they can find them permanent family homes, opponents point to signs that state schools are getting too comfortable with their new charges – from building campus playgrounds to cordoning off child-only dorms.

“We need to be able to stop it at the front door,” said Colleen Horton, the public policy director for the University of Texas’ Center for Disability Studies. “I’ve never ever heard a family say, ‘I want to place my child in a state school.’ What I have heard is, ‘We are at the end of our rope, we can’t get any help, our family is falling apart and we just can’t do it any longer.’ “

State schools clearly aren’t the place for juveniles. But, what are the alternatives?

The fact is there aren’t any easy solutions. The state claims that the juveniles in the facilities are “temporary placements,” and will eventually return to their homes or another family.

However, what happens to those who really can’t return to their homes and wouldn’t be safe in that type of environment? Evidently they stay in the state schools for a long while. Again, no easy answers.

It’s doubtful that Johnson has quite the Teflon-ness that Ralph Hall (R-Rockwall) possesses, but we suspect he’s probably safe. However, there are numerous rumblings that the business community in Plano wants someone who is more in tune with their needs and ready to answer at their beck and call than Johnson, who has reportedly become, “ineffective.”

Could be an interesting primary.

Tags: Sam+Johnson, Wayne+Avellant

Technorati Tags Sam Johnson, Wayne Avellant

So, what about John Cornyn? He has made no move to give back the $10,000 he took from Craig’s PAC. How long will it take for Cornyn to give the money back?

[Hat Tip To Noriega Blog]

Now, Evan Smith over at Texas Monthly has gotten in on the act as well, after having mentioned it once already.

While Cornyn was gassing about how “bi-partisan” he is (ha ha!), health care and getting people to stop smoking to a group of doctors in Abilene, the rest of the world was honoring Lady Bird Johnson. What gives?

Would it have hurt a few people’s feelings in Abilene if Cornyn had canceled to go to the funeral? Sure, but they’d have understood.

Some people have also noted that perhaps it’s a good thing he didn’t go because most Texans don’t like him anyway.

That, however, is not the point. The point is about giving respect where respect is due on the most fundamental levels.

A former First Lady–from Texas–was being buried. For the state’s junior sitting United States Senator to not show up or at least make a public statement about why he wasn’t going to be there is a fundamental disgrace. It’s such a disgrace.

It’s about showing a family that you are there as a representation of the respect the people of your state show for the deceased even if you yourself don’t share their feelings. And, that doesn’t matter who it is—Lady Bird or someone else.  You show up as a reflection of the respect your constituents have even if you don’t really care one way or the other.

Not even the 44 percent (or whatever the number is today) of people who still support Cornyn, I’d venture to say, fail to respect Lady Bird Johnson. He even disgraced his (remaining) supporters by not being there.

Tags: John+Cornyn, Lady+Bird+Johnson

DeLay listed a contribution of $5,000 from a political action committee associated with Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Other $5,000 donors were Larry D. Johnson, chairman of Johnson Co. in Houston and Howard Jones of the Bronx, NY.

DeLay’s biggest expenditure was $25,000 paid for legal fees to Bracewell & Giuliani in Dallas and $10,012.15 to Richardson Consulting in Washington for fundraising event costs.

Wonder Twin Power—ACTIVATE!—Form Of…A Douche Bag.

[Yes, another blogger was first to call the Senators from Texas the Wonder Twins, but I can't remember who it was...so, whoever you are, credit goes to you; I just borrowed your idea for a post]

AP reports that, as bilingual interpreters and foreign language ballots are becoming an issue in the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Cornyn is one of three Senators doing his part to make sure the process proceeds at a turtle’s pace so that every “i” may be dotted and ever “t” crossed in the dilluting of the VRA.

Why:

A group of conservatives say some portions of the act are outdated, including provisions requiring bilingual interpreters and ballots in several languages.

Thank God it’s an election year, though, because some of the Republicans are climbing out of the holes where they count their money and hide from reality just long enough to realize that passage of an unmolested VRA is a good thing:

There was another reason the bill is headed for passage: Election-year politics. Republicans hope it will inoculate GOP candidates against charges of racism stemming from controversial proposals to overhaul immigration policy. Democrats believe it will energize minorities who are a major component of the party’s base.

Opponents are fighting a losing battle, said the leaders of both houses.

While it’s good to know people like Cornyn are going to be on the losing side of this, the fact remains that Cornyn and others shouldn’t be tinkering with the VRA in this manner at all.

Here’s more on what’s causing the hiccough:

Sensenbrenner’s bill would require jurisdictions to add bilingual ballots and offer bilingual assistance at polling places where large communities of people speak limited English.

It also would renew a requirement that states and counties with a history of racial discrimination - from the South to New York City and certain areas of California - get federal approval to change their election laws.

Despite the leadership power behind the proposal, opposition remains.

More than 50 House Republicans wrote Sensenbrenner in February saying the requirements for bilingual interpreters and ballots in different languages “encourage the linguistic division of our nation and contradict the ‘melting pot’ ideal,” they wrote.

And on Tuesday, three GOP senators - John Cornyn of Texas, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma - asked Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to slow the process to make sure any legislation would withstand a Supreme Court challenge.

Of course, given the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court, I’m sure that a vote to suspend the Constitution itself and nominate GWB Emperor of America would probably be held Constitutional these days.

But, it remains that our junior senator from Texas is making our state look like a backwater hillbilly railroad junction with nothing more than a cafe and a nasty “no coloreds allowed” bathroom all the while trying to help America take one giant leap backward in the civil rights movement.

Not a good idea, Senator Cornyn. Not a good idea. Thanks to the ACLU of Texas’ Liberty Blog for bringing this important issue to our attention.